Trump Extends Sanctions Waiver for Syria After Meeting With Al-Sharaa

The sanctions imposed by the Caesar Act limit international banks’ ability to underwrite reconstruction financing.

President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) in the Oval Office on Nov. 10, 2025. @realDonaldTrump via Truth Social

WASHINGTON—​​President Donald Trump on Nov. 10 granted a 180-day extension of his waiver of sanctions against Syria after he met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House.

On June 30, Trump issued an executive order lifting sanctions on Syria to allow the war-torn country to recover quickly.

However, congressional action would be needed to permanently remove the sanctions imposed by the Caesar Act, which prohibits the sale of goods, technology, or equipment to Syria and blocks the country from the international banking system.

Trump’s executive order has provided a 180-day waiver on those prohibitions. He renewed the waiver before it was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2026.

The Trump administration has been urging Congress to repeal the Caesar Act.

“He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I like him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office hours after his meeting with the Syrian leader.

The sanctions imposed by the Caesar Act limit international banks’ ability to underwrite reconstruction financing, according to Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Reconstruction costs of damaged infrastructure and buildings in Syria are projected to range between $140 billion and $345 billion, according to the World Bank.

The visit by al-Sharaa was the first time a Syrian head of state had visited the White House since the country gained independence from France in 1946.

The meeting at the White House comes six months after Trump and al-Sharaa met in Saudi Arabia and days after the United Nations and the United States lifted terrorism-related sanctions on the Syrian leader.

The U.S. government recently removed Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations on al-Sharaa and Syria’s interior minister, Anas Khattab.

Ahead of the visit, al-Sharaa was expected to join the anti-ISIS coalition, a global effort formed in 2014 and signed by 89 partners to combat ISIS in Iraq, Syria, and globally. But no announcement came.

“You can expect an announcement on Syria,” Trump told reporters. “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful. And I think this leader can do it.”

Al-Sharaa took office in December 2024 after former leader Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, ending his family’s 53-year rule in Syria.

Al-Sharaa led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which claimed victory in the country’s 13-year civil war.

HTS was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 2018 but was removed from the list this year.

The group began as the al-Nusra Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group founded by Osama bin Laden.

A now-deleted bounty notice against al-Sharaa notes his role in founding the al-Nusra Front and leading the group through its reorganization into HTS. The bounty notice further stated that the group had taken part in kidnappings and killings in Syria over the years, including the 2015 slayings of 20 Druze villagers in Idlib Province.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council also lifted terror-related sanctions designations on him and Khattab.

In June, Trump rescinded unilateral U.S. sanctions on Syria via executive order, saying it was “a chance at greatness” for the Syrian people, but he kept sanctions on Assad and other leaders.

The United States revoked the designation of HTS as a foreign terrorist group in July.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Nov. 4 that the meeting between the president and al-Sharaa is part of Trump’s efforts to meet “anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace.”

Days before the meeting, Trump said Syria had made “a lot of progress.”

“I think he’s doing a very good job. It’s a tough neighborhood, and he’s a tough guy, but I got along with him very well,” he said.

Trump and al-Sharaa last met in May in Riyadh, where the U.S. president urged his Syrian counterpart to join the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states.

In September, al-Sharaa addressed the U.N. General Assembly–the first Syrian president to do so since 1967–calling for full sanctions relief and highlighting Syria’s reconstruction needs.

On Nov. 9, al-Sharaa met with the Syrian community in Washington, joined by U.S. special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack.

Before the White House meeting, an undated video on social media showed al-Sharaa and his foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, playing basketball with U.S. military officials, including CENTCOM’s Adm. Brad Cooper and anti-ISIS coalition head Brig. Gen. Kevin Lambert.