WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop buying oil from Russia and left the door open to Ankara obtaining F-35 fighter jets, as the leaders looked to resolve a number of longstanding issues that have strained ties between the NATO allies.

“I’d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,” Trump said Thursday alongside Erdogan in the Oval Office.

Trump’s comments mark the latest example of him pressuring U.S. partners to slash Russian energy purchases, in an effort to squeeze financing for the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine. The president this week said he believed Kyiv could achieve victory against Moscow, another effort to apply pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Erdogan’s visit to the White House — his first time in six years — presented an opportunity for the U.S. and Turkey to reset relations as the two NATO allies navigate a web of defense deals, regional conflicts and competition with Russia and China.

The president said he would discuss Erdogan’s desire to rejoin the F-35 fighter program, but did not commit to letting Ankara back in. Trump said, however, that if he had a good meeting with his Turkish counterpart, sanctions on officials there could be lifted “almost immediately.” The U.S. president said that a conclusion could be reached by the end of the day.

Pressed after the meeting on whether he had cleared the way for a deal on F-35s, Trump demurred, saying: “I will be able to easily if I want. We may, we may do that.”

He went on to say that “it depends. He’s going to do something for us,” without providing any more details on the discussion.

The two countries have been locked in a long-running dispute over Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 stealth jet program. Turkey was an original partner in developing Lockheed’s most advanced warplane but was kicked out of the program after buying Russia’s S-400 air defense system. That purchase resulted in congressional sanctions that targeted Turkey’s defense industry and still remain in place.

Trump recently indicated there was a chance to resolve that dispute. Ankara has refused to abandon the S-400s, as Washington demands, but hopes a compromise over their deployment could reopen the door to purchasing F-35s. The U.S. president said Thursday he would discuss with Erdogan purchases of the Patriot missile-defense system, an American alternative to the S-400s.

‘Big influence’

Turkey depends on U.S. military and diplomatic backing, and its commitment to the NATO alliance is widely viewed as a barometer for the outlook of a major Middle Eastern economy. Repairing some of the longstanding rifts between the countries could also be crucial to strengthening NATO as the alliance faces new challenges from a newly emboldened Russia and with Trump looking to ease Middle East tensions stoked by Israel’s war on Hamas.

Trump said Thursday that Erdogan could have a role in helping convince Putin to halt the fighting, saying that the Turkish leader was respected in both Moscow and Kyiv, but he reiterated his stance that restricting Russian energy imports was the best path to increasing pressure on Moscow.

“I think he could have a big influence if he wants to. Right now, he’s very neutral. He likes being neutral,” Trump said. “So do I like being neutral, but he’s somebody that if he got involved, the best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia.”

In a separate Oval Office meeting later Thursday after their discussions, Trump was asked by reporters if he secured a pledge from Erdogan to stop buying Russian oil. The president said that he didn’t want to answer and then ultimately said that he felt Erdogan would stop if he asked him to.

Trump pivoted to Hungary, another purchaser of Russian energy. The U.S. president said he understood that his demands to restrict Russian oil imports were logistically difficult for some economies, noting that Hungary, led by ally Viktor Orban, was landlocked.

Russia is Turkey’s biggest energy supplier, providing 66% of its oil imports and 41% of natural gas imports last year, according to data from the national regulator. Turkey has looked to diversify its gas supply mix in recent weeks with a string of deals to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas, notably a 20-year contract signed with trading house Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. this week.

Trump campaigned on ending Russia’s war on his first day back in office but that goal has been stymied by Putin, who has ignored calls to negotiate face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and blown past previous U.S. deadlines for a ceasefire only to intensify air attacks in a bid to secure a victory on the battlefield.

The U.S. president has increasingly expressed frustration with Putin but has also put more pressure on his own allies, urging them to cut off their energy imports from Moscow, and also pushing them to impose sweeping new levies on India and China — two major purchasers of Russian energy.

Trump last month doubled the tariff on goods from India to 50% to punish New Delhi over Russian energy buys, but has refrained from doing so against China — the world’s second largest economy — as Washington and Beijing engage in broader trade talks.

Europe, which needs to import energy from elsewhere to meet its needs, buys large volumes of fuel from India and Turkey, which purchase crude from Russia and then process it to sell abroad.

Trump and Erdogan have had a fraught relationship in the past — marked by an uneasy White House meeting in November 2019 during Trump’s first term — but both Ankara and Washington have much to gain from improving relations.

“This is a guy who’s highly opinionated. Usually, I don’t like opinionated people,” Trump said of his Turkish counterpart. “I always like this one but he’s a tough one.”

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(With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Patrick Sykes, Lauren Dezenski, Ugur Yilmaz, Michelle Jamrisko and Derek Wallbank.)

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