President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order ending a U.S. sanctions program on Syria, paving the way for the country’s reintegration into the international financial system and reinforcing Washington’s commitment to support its post-war reconstruction.
The decision fulfills a pledge Trump made in May to unwind broad economic measures imposed during the Assad regime, aiming to support Syria’s “path to stability and peace,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing.
“The order will remove sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanctions on the former President Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies,” she said.
“This is again an action that the president promised and shocked the world with in Saudi Arabia, because he’s committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors,” Leavitt added.
Some in Congress are pushing for the measures to be totally repealed, while Europe has announced the end of its economic sanctions regime.
"Syria needs to be given a chance, and that's what's happened," U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack told reporters in a briefing call. He described Monday's move as "the culmination of a very tedious, detailed, excruciating process of, how do you unwrap these sanctions."
The White House, in a fact sheet, said the order directs the Secretary of State to review the terrorism designations of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an anti-regime group that al-Sharaa led.
Trump first announced the policy shift at an investment forum in Riyadh last month, where he criticized the “brutal and crippling” sanctions. The next day, he met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — the first meeting between U.S. and Syrian leaders in 25 years.
Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces during Syria’s conflict, assumed the presidency in late January following the ouster of Bashar Assad. Assad fled to Russia on Dec. 8, 2024, bringing an end to the Baath Party’s decades-long rule, which began in 1963.
