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U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has formally notified Congress of its intention to sell dozens of jet engines worth more than $700 million to Türkiye, according to a copy of the formal notification seen by Reuters.
Reuters was first to report on Wednesday that the Trump administration planned to press ahead with the sale despite objections from some lawmakers over Türkiye’s possession of Russian defense systems, acquired in 2019.
“The U.S. government is prepared to license the export of these items having taken into account political, military, economic, human rights, and arms control considerations,” the State Department said in its notification to Congress, which was dated June 24.
The sale is an important gesture to Ankara ahead of a pivotal NATO summit there next month and to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whom Trump considers a key ally, according to Reuters.
Congress has 15 days to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval if it wants to block the sale. Such a resolution would need to pass in both chambers and could be vetoed by Trump.
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and a prominent critic of the engine sale, had raised objections during an informal review process with the administration and has not given his green light for the package, two sources, including a U.S. official, told Reuters.
In a statement on Wednesday, Meeks criticized what he described as the administration's failure to make a "good-faith" effort to brief him on the implications of the sale for bilateral ties as well as Türkiye’s possession of the S-400s.
Asked on Wednesday about the jet engines, the F-35 program and his plans for the summit in Ankara, Trump said: "I'm going to probably do something that will make them very happy."
The engines, produced by General Electric, will power Türkiye’s first indigenous combat jet KAAN, a major project launched in 2016 as part of the NATO member's efforts to be more self-sufficient in its defense.