# CAATSA The **Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act** (Pub. L. 115-44) passed the House 419–3 and the Senate 98–2, and [[Donald Trump]] signed it on August 2, 2017 while calling it "seriously flawed." It imposes sanctions on [[Russia]], [[Iran]] and [[North Korea]]. Its two structural innovations matter more than any single listing. ## What makes it different 1. **Congress can block Russia relief.** Section 216 requires the president to submit any easing or lifting of Russia sanctions to Congress for a 30-day review, during which Congress can pass a joint resolution of disapproval. It was written because Congress did not trust the incoming president on Russia. 2. **Buying Russian arms triggers mandatory [[Secondary Sanctions]].** Section 231 requires sanctions on anyone making a "significant transaction" with Russia's defense or intelligence sector. It turned arms purchases from Moscow into a U.S. sanctions trigger. It was first used against China's Equipment Development Department in 2018 over Su-35s and S-400s. The marquee case is [[Turkey]]. ## The Turkey case - **December 2020.** The U.S. sanctioned Turkey's defense procurement agency (SSB) and its chief over the purchase of the Russian S-400. Turkey was also removed from the [[F-35]] program. - **A separate statutory bar.** The FY2020 NDAA bars any F-35 transfer until the administration certifies that Turkey no longer possesses the S-400. Lifting CAATSA alone does not open that door. - **July 7, 2026.** In Ankara for the [[NATO Summit Ankara 2026]], Trump told reporters, "We're going to be taking the sanctions off. It's time. We don't want to sanction friends," and said he would "consider" F-35 sales. - **Two weeks later, nothing had moved.** On July 22–23 the State Department said Turkey had "not yet met" the legal conditions. As of late August the sanctions were still on the books, the S-400s were still in Turkey, and Senate Foreign Relations chair [[Jim Risch]] called it "a standstill." ## Why it matters for the KB CAATSA is the statute Congress wrote to bind a president it expected to go soft on Moscow, and the Turkey episode shows the binding working. A presidential announcement did not lift the sanctions, because the preconditions live in statute. The broader 2026 Russia package, the [[Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026]] (signed September 18), is the largest since CAATSA and builds on its architecture. See [[Sanctions Designation Pipeline]]. ## See Also - [[Turkey]] · [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] · [[F-35]] - [[Russia]] · [[Russian Influence]] · [[Iran]] - [[Secondary Sanctions]] · [[Sanctions Designation Pipeline]]