President Trump spoke with Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan about their countries’ shared commitment to the fight against terrorism abroad and NATO during a phone conversation Tuesday.
The two leaders discussed the “close, long-standing relationship between the United States and Turkey and their shared commitment to combatting terrorism in all its forms,” the White House said in a statement. Turkey has been a critical ally on the front-lines in the fight against ISIS, contributing ground troops on the battlefield in Syria.
Trump also reiterated the U.S.’s support of Turkey as a “strategic partner and NATO ally, and welcomed Turkey’s contributions to the counter-ISIS campaign,” the White House added.
The Trump administration’s tune on NATO has differed than that of Trump’s rhetoric during much of the presidential campaign, when he questioned the country’s role in NATO, saying that the U.S. was contributing an unfair amount of money compared to other member nations.
As president, the Trump White House has said Trump has repeatedly assured NATO allies of U.S. support for the alliance. He has done this while at the same time encouraging allies to meet their treaty obligation on defense spending minimums — pegged at at least 2 percent of any country’s GDP.
