Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, with Washington’s recently imposed global tariffs set to be part of their talks.
“This meeting comes at a critical moment on many key issues: the efforts to return our hostages being held by Hamas, the instability in Syria and the threats posed by Iranian proxies,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told Fox News Digital.
“The recent implementation of tariff policy will also be discussed. Just as Prime Minister Netanyahu was the first world leader to visit President Trump in his second term in the White House, he is now once again the first leader to meet with the president with regard to deepening economic ties and putting trade relations in order,” he added.
Netanyahu last met with Trump in Washington on Feb. 4.
In Wednesday’s “Liberation Day” announcement, a 17% tariff on goods imported from Israel – a 10% baseline on all countries that took effect on April 5 and an additional 7% – was scheduled for April 9.
“The fear is that these tariffs will hurt exports of diamonds as well as high-tech or defense systems like drones. If our income were to be reduced as a result, this would be a problem,” Alex Coman, a value-creation expert at the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel, told Fox News Digital.
“These tariffs came as a surprise. Prior to this decision, there were very few imposed, many products did not have them and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich eliminated those that existed,” adding, “As such, I am very optimistic that these tariffs will be reduced.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Amelie Botbol
Read the full article here
