Intel: Erdogan, Trump talk coronavirus

US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the COVID-19 crisis by phone today, the White House announced.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said that they “discussed ongoing efforts to combat the coronavirus in the United States and Turkey. The two leaders agreed to work closely together on the international campaign to defeat the virus and bolster the global economy.”

Trump and Erdogan also discussed the conflicts in Syria and Libya and the need for both countries to “adhere to cease-fires and work toward resolution.” Turkey has committed ground troops to both conflicts.

Why it matters:  The United States has the most coronavirus infections in the world with nearly 162,000 recorded cases and more than 3,000 deaths. The pandemic is also increasingly severe in Turkey, which has the 12th most infections in the world with nearly 13,531 recorded cases and 214 deaths so far.