The 45-minute phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed steps to be taken in order to strengthen economic collaboration between Turkey and the U.S. and the two leaders agreed to meet at their earliest convenience.

Although Turkey-U.S. trade volume currently stood at around $17 billion, it was well below the potential of the two countries.

The U.S. is currently one of Turkey's largest trading partners. The commercial relations between Turkey and the U.S. have entered a new phase and gained a new perspective with then-U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Turkey in April 2009. Both countries, long-time strategic partners, decided to build a model partnership, which furthered bilateral economic and commercial relations.

To that regard, the Framework for Strategies Economic and Commercial Cooperation (FSECC) was established. In 2014, foreign direct investment from the U.S. to Turkey was recorded at $4.3 billion.

Moreover, many of the new successful joint ventures between U.S. and Turkish firms aim to manufacture innovative products in Turkey for both domestic use and export to third country markets.

Likewise, General Electric invested $900 million in 2012 and AmGen made a $700-million acquisition of long-established Turkish pharmaceutical company Mustafa Nevzat. Furthermore, DOW partnered with Turkish firm AKSA to produce carbon fiber in Turkey, which is reported to be a $1-billion investment, with plans to re-export to third markets in the future.