The US won't take pastor Andrew Brunson's detention “sitting down,

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States was not going to take Turkey’s detention of U.S. Christian pastor Andrew Brunson “sitting down,” a day after his Treasury chief said Washington could hit Ankara with further sanctions. 

They should have given him back a long time ago, and Turkey has in my opinion acted very, very badly, Trump told reporters at the White House.

So, we haven’t seen the last of that. We are not going to take it sitting down. They can’t take our people.

The U.S. warned Turkey on Thursday to expect more economic sanctions unless it hands over Brunson, as relations between the two countries took a further turn for the worse.

Trump in a Twitter post on Friday wrote:

Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin assured Trump at a Cabinet meeting that sanctions were ready to be put in place if Brunson was not freed.