Netanyahu fails to persuade Trump to remove tariff on Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not seem to have persuaded US President Donald Trump to exempt Israel from the new definition policy at their White House meeting yesterday. The definitions are scheduled to enter into force this week. The basic tariff for imports in the United States is 10 %. The tariff imposed on imports from Israel is 17 %.

In the Israeli Finance Ministry, the expectation that Netanyahu would have been trying to persuade Trump to completely exclude Israel from the new policy, but the American president would not abide by it. When asked whether Israel would be given an exemption, he said: “Maybe not. Do not forget that we are helping Israel a lot. We give Israel $ 4 billion a year. This is a lot, referring to American military aid to Israel.

“Trump has been collapsed and benefited from many countries over the years, and we have not been able to do this anymore,” Trump added.

According to the Central Statistics Office of Israel, in 2024, the value of Israeli exports to the United States (including diamonds) amounted to $ 17.2 billion, while imports from the United States worth $ 9.2 billion. The surplus of Israel's trade with the United States is the largest with any country, in a long way. With China, Israel had a trade deficit in 2024 of 10.8 billion dollars.

For his part, Netanyahu promised to remove all other definitions and commercial barriers facing American exports to Israel. “We think that we are very quickly. Netanyahu accompanied his visit to Washington, the first by a foreign leader after the announcement of the definition policy, by his economic advisor, Professor Avi Simon, but not by representatives of the Ministry of Finance. Lootnick and American Trade Representative Jameson Jarir before his meeting with Trump.

The Israeli Ministry of Finance announced these moves last week, hoping to avoid the customs tariff for Israel, but without success. “What is good for Europe is useful for Israel,” which angered the American administration, has been updated so that products that meet American standards automatically to import to Israel are approved. The importance of this is more permitted by the process, as almost all American products are adapted to export with European standards, so that they were able to import them to Israel even under original reform.

In addition, Finance Minister Bizalil Soutrich signed an order to cancel the Israeli tariffs on imports from the United States. The approval of the Knesset Finance Committee is required. The definitions of American goods are not in any way, and reach about 42 million NIS annually. Related definitions are mainly on agricultural products.

In the announcement of interest rates yesterday, the Bank of Israel stated: “The exports of goods to the United States, which constitute about 13 % of the total exports of goods and services, will be greatly affected by the definitions imposed by the US government, and in addition, the other export components will be affected by the cost on global trade.”

On the diplomatic front, Trump stated that high -level direct talks will start between the United States and Iran on Saturday, with the aim of reaching an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. “We are conducting direct talks with Iran, and they have started. It will continue on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we will see what can happen,” Trump said, adding that Tehran will be “in great danger” if the talks fail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said at the same time that the talks will actually happen, but they will be in Amman, and they will be indirect.

It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on April 8, 2025.

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