Israeli PM., Netanyahu to meet with Trump over tariffs,

both leaders to also discuss the war in Gaza among others

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, April 7, 2025 to discuss tariffs among other issues.

Netanyahu becomes the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he unleashed tariffs on countries around the world.

Whether Netanyahu’s visit succeeds in bringing down or eliminating Israel’s tariffs remains to be seen.

However, how it plays out could set the stage for how other world leaders try to address the new tariffs.

Netanyahu’s office has put the focus of his hastily organized Washington visit on the tariffs.

He stressed that the two leaders will discuss major geopolitical issues including:

• the war in Gaza,
• tensions with Iran,
• Israel-Turkey ties and,
• the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader last year.

Trump in February signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC over its investigations of Israel.

The prime minister soon after arriving in Washington on Sunday evening met with senior Trump administration officials.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer, were on hand as the officials to discuss the tariffs.

Trump and Netanyahu are also likely to discuss Israel’s hoped-for annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians want the West Bank as the heart of their future independent state.

Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations, said he expected Trump to use the tariffs as leverage to force concessions from Netanyahu.

In Israel’s case, those concessions might not be economic.

Media reports say Trump may pressure Netanyahu to move toward ending the war in Gaza.

They believe that, at the very least through some interim truce with Hamas that would pause the fighting and free more hostages.

Gilboa said Trump is hoping to return from his first overseas trip, expected next month to Saudi Arabia.

He is expected to move on a deal to normalize relations with Israel, which would likely require significant Israeli concessions on Gaza.

If he does manage to move toward bolstering ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, that would act as a regional diplomatic counterweight to pressure Iran.

Trump had threatened new sanctions against Iran and suggested military action over its nuclear program.

In a preemptive move last week, Israel announced that it was removing all tariffs on goods from the U.S.

The tariffs were mostly on imported food and agricultural products, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

The statement did not mention Trump’s impending tariffs, which were announced the following day.

But said Israel’s step would bolster ties with its largest trading partner, the United States. Israel is not a major trading partner of the U.S.

But the tactic failed, and with a 17% rate, Israel was just one of dozens of countries that were slapped with tariffs on Trump’s so-called Liberation Day last week.

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