Trump’s Lifting of Sanctions on Syria Wins Cautious Approval

The Trump administration made a bold announcement this week, declaring it would lift sanctions on Syria, earning bipartisan praise in doing so.

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” the president said on Tuesday in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The move will likely stimulate significant economic growth in the nation, given that U.S. sanctions applied to third party actors, which meant countries beyond the U.S. sought to avoid trade with Syria lest they be frozen out of the American market. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., known for her contentious relationship with the president, praised the move. Warren had said this week that the Trump administration should lift sanctions “or risk walking away from an opportunity to promote stability in the region and help the Syrian people build a better life after years of living under the thumb of the oppressive and brutal Assad regime.”

Trump’s announcement comes after Qatar and Saudi Arabia said they would be paying off Syria’s debts to the World Bank. The move will likely free up more financial investment in the country. Trump’s move has already helped the country, with the Syrian pound strengthened 25% in value compared with the U.S. dollar after the announcement. 

Trump noted the massive destruction the more than a decade of civil war has wreaked on the Middle Eastern nation.

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see,” Trump said.

The president explained how he had already sought to reestablish diplomatic ties with the new regime governing the country.

“In Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing many years. That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade,” Trump said. 

He met with the new leader of Syria, President Ahmad al-Sharaa, on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia along with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the meeting via telephone. Trump praised the new Syrian president as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.” 

Al-Sharaa has appeared to make some effort in restoring trust with the U.S. government by meeting with Debra Tice, the mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive in Syria in 2012. Trump said on Friday that “Austin has not been seen in many, many years,” when asked if he had raised the American journalist’s case with the Syrian president. 

Nevertheless, the administration has remained cautious about the prospects of the new regime in Damascus. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had harsh words toward the Syrian government for not preventing reported mass killings against ethno-religious minorities in the country in March. 

“The United States condemns the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days,” Rubio said in a press statement.   

“Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable,” the secretary of state added. 

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., also praised the president for taking a risk.

“Trump knows he’s taking a gamble. He knows the guy he’s dealing with as the head of Syria was a terrorist—is still on the terrorist list—and he knows that it’s a gamble. What he’s also saying to Turkey and to Saudi Arabia, you know, [is] ‘I’m going to do my part. Now, you guys have got to step in here and clean this act up,’” Gingrich said.

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