President Trump made good on threats to sanction Turkey over its actions in the Middle East regarding an invasion of Northern Syria to create a buffer zone against Kurdish separatists. The order halts trade negotiations with the NATO ally, hikes tariffs on Turkish steel to 50%, and sanctions certain Turkish officials.
The legacy media has focused attention on the Kurdish issue as a negative one for the president; in reality, the Turks were going to invade and the U.S. did not have sufficient forces in-country to stop them, no matter the talking head's opinion on CNN and other anti-Trump media outlets.
Trump has been looking for a way out of the Syrian morass for the U.S. and took advantage of the Turkish threat to extract American forces, whose mission was 'unclear' at best, a waste of resources at worst.
“This Order will enable the United States to impose powerful additional sanctions on those who may be involved in serious human rights abuses, obstructing a ceasefire, preventing displaced persons from returning home, forcibly repatriating refugees, or threatening the peace, security, or stability in Syria,” read Trump's statement.
Trump defended his actions on social media.
