The question of whether Trump will sell F-35 jets to Turkey has suddenly become very real. At the NATO summit in Ankara, President Donald Trump publicly signaled he is seriously considering resuming F-35 sales to Turkey — a country that was expelled from the program back in 2019. Trump cited his close relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and praised Turkey's loyalty, suggesting the deal could move forward. But between congressional sanctions, Israeli opposition, and Turkey's Russian missile system still sitting on its soil, the path to an actual sale is anything but straightforward.
Will Trump Actually Sell F-35s to Turkey?
In bilateral talks with Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Trump made clear that selling F-35s to Turkey is something he would "certainly consider." His reasoning? Loyalty. Trump praised Turkey as being "much more loyal than other countries" the US had trusted, framing the potential sale as a reward for that relationship rather than a strategic calculation.
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Trump and Erdoğan during their bilateral meeting at the NATO summit in Ankara
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"It's a great plane. It's the best — currently the best plane by far," Trump said, adding that many people in the room agreed the sale made sense. For Trump, the logic was simple: good allies deserve good hardware. But the reality of making that happen is significantly more complicated than a bilateral handshake can solve.
Why Was Turkey Kicked Out of the F-35 Program?
To understand why this is such a big deal, you have to go back to 2019. That year, the United States formally expelled Turkey from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The reason: Turkey had purchased Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system — a move Washington viewed as a direct security threat to NATO and to the F-35 itself.
The concern was straightforward. If Turkish F-35s operated in proximity to Russia's S-400 radar systems, Russia could potentially gather critical intelligence about the jet's stealth capabilities and electronic signature. A year after the expulsion, the US doubled down by imposing sanctions on Turkey's defense procurement agency under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
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NATO Secretary General announcing tens of billions in new European arms commitments
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Those sanctions are still in place — and they are the central obstacle to any F-35 sale today.
Can Trump Bypass Congress to Approve the F-35 Sale?
This is where things get legally thorny. The CAATSA sanctions on Turkey were implemented by Congress, not just the executive branch. That means Trump cannot simply sign an executive order and ship the jets. To fully authorize the sale, Congress would need to pass legislation lifting or waiving those sanctions — a process that requires political will Trump may not be able to manufacture on his own.
Whether Trump has the leverage or the inclination to push Congress on this remains to be seen. During the press briefing in Ankara, a reporter asked Trump directly whether he still had concerns about Turkey's Russian missile system. His response raised eyebrows — he appeared confused by the question, asking repeatedly what the reporter meant. Critics were quick to note that the S-400 issue is the entire legal and strategic foundation of the sanctions, and the US president seemed unfamiliar with it in the moment.
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Trump's moment of confusion when asked about Turkey's Russian S-400 missile system
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That moment aside, Trump declaring his intention to sell is a political signal — but the mechanics of actually doing it run through Capitol Hill.
Why Is Israel Opposed to Turkey Getting F-35s?
Adding another layer of complexity, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated — either the day of or the day before the summit — that Israel does not want the US to sell F-35s to Turkey. Israel's concern is regional: Turkey and Israel have had a fraught relationship in recent years, and putting the world's most advanced fighter jet in Turkish hands is seen in Jerusalem as a direct threat to Israeli air superiority in the Middle East.
Israel is one of the most significant F-35 operators in the world and has long benefited from a qualitative military edge in the region. Any sale to Turkey chips away at that edge — and Netanyahu made sure Washington knew exactly where Israel stood before any deal could be announced.
What Happened at the NATO Summit in Ankara?
The NATO summit in Ankara was defined by two competing narratives: European allies desperately trying to demonstrate their defense commitments to Trump, and Trump making clear that their efforts may not be enough.
Before Trump even landed, European NATO members were unveiling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars — new air defense systems, strike capabilities, satellite communications, ammunition, drones, and counter-drone systems. The message was explicit: Europe is listening, Europe is spending, and Europe is stepping up.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed the scale of the announcements, describing them as part of a broader commitment to burden-sharing. The bloc was pulling out all the stops to show Trump concrete numbers and concrete contracts.
Is Trump Still Frustrated With European NATO Allies?
Despite the massive defense spending announcements, Trump's comments during his bilateral with Erdoğan suggested the dollars alone aren't cutting it. He repeated his long-standing grievance that the United States has spent enormous sums defending Europe while European nations haven't done enough in return.
But there was a new dimension to his frustration this time. Trump was clearly irritated that European leaders did not support him during what he called his "war with Iran." He named specific countries that declined his calls for help, and then added a line that revealed a lot about his mindset: "I didn't need their help. I was testing them to see if they would be there for us the way we were there for them."
That framing — loyalty as the primary metric of alliance value — echoes his reasoning on the F-35 sale to Turkey. For Trump, NATO isn't primarily a strategic institution. It's a network of relationships, and those relationships are measured by who shows up when it matters.
There were also small jabs directed at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, though observers noted these were milder than Trump's past attacks on European leaders.
Is Trump Threatening to Pull US Troops From NATO Again?
Yes — and it came up again in Ankara. Trump revived his long-running threat about removing US soldiers from Europe, tying it once again to the question of whether European countries are contributing enough. He also returned to the subject of Greenland, reiterating that the United States should control the island — a statement that caused significant alarm when he first made it and continues to unsettle European governments.
Taken together, the Ankara summit illustrated the fundamental tension at the heart of the Trump-NATO relationship: European members are spending more, signing more contracts, and making more public commitments than ever before — and yet Trump's list of grievances keeps growing. Spending on defense is now a baseline expectation, not a reward. What Trump wants, it seems, is something harder to quantify: loyalty, deference, and willingness to follow his lead beyond Europe's borders.
Whether the F-35 sale to Turkey ultimately happens will be one of the clearest tests of how much Trump can bend the rules of the alliance — and how much Congress will let him.
