Frankfurt, Oct. 15 -- The sanctions the U.S. announced against Turkey this week over its offensive in Syria fall well short of doing serious damage to an economy still healing from a recession and currency collapse.

President Donald Trump could take far tougher action that would deter foreign investment and credit that Turkey badly needs - but doing so could backfire in a number of ways, and it's not clear he really wants to.

Trump has said he could "destroy and obliterate" the economy of Turkey, and has called on the country to rein in its offensive in Syria. The statement follows backlash from both Democrats and Republicans over Trump's decision to give Turkey a green light for its military incursion against Kurdish fighters who had b...