Turkish and American business professionals need to help expand the trade between Turkey and the U.S., Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. 
The comments by the Turkish president came during a dinner in the U.S. capital that was attended by dozens of Turkish and American companies, Turkish Anadolu Agency reported. 
The Turkish leader said his country wants the level of economic relations between the U.S. and Turkey to be on par with political relations of the NATO allies. 
It is not possible to say that we have fully realized the potential economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries, Erdogan said. 
"We have great expectations from you well esteemed representatives of prominent American companies as well as Turkish entrepreneurs, to recover this shortfall." Trade between Turkey and the U.S. hit $17.5 billion in 2015 while $150 billion moved between Ankara and Europe during the same period, according to Erdogan.