President Trump wasn’t sold on reducing or eliminating tariffs on Israel even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to eliminate the trade deficit and barriers with the United States.
When asked Monday whether he would take the 17% tariff off of Israeli goods, Mr. Trump said, “well, we’re talking about a whole new trade — maybe not, maybe not. Don’t forget we help Israel a lot.”
“You know, we give Israel $4 billion a year. That’s a lot,” Mr. Trump said seated next to Mr. Netanyahu in the Oval Office. “Congratulations, by the way. That’s pretty good. But we give Israel billions of dollars a year. Billions. It’s one of the highest” recipients of U.S. assistance.
Mr. Netanyahu said earlier in the Oval Office that Israel will move to eliminate the trade deficit with the United States.
“We intend to do it very quickly. We think it’s the right thing to do and we’re going to also eliminate trade barriers that have been put up unnecessarily,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
He said Israel “can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same.”
“I recognize the position of the United States. It says, you know, ‘We’re allowing other countries to put tariffs on us, and we don’t put tariffs on them,’” he said. “I’m a free trade champion. And free trade has to be fair trade.”
