Trump's tariff twist: Israel's zero tariff move backfires
The Israeli government, a day before Donald Trump's Wednesday decision, cancelled all tariffs on imports from the United States. Despite this, the US President imposed 17 per cent retaliatory tariffs. "The Israeli industry is deeply worried by President Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs on Israel," said the president of the Israeli Manufacturers Association.
What do you need to know?
- Israel lifted tariffs on US products the day before Donald Trump's decision, hoping to avoid new tariffs.
- The United States imposed 17 per cent tariffs on products from Israel, which surprised and worried Israeli producers.
- The US decision is related to allegations of intellectual property theft by Israel, suggested a US administration official.
"The removal of tariffs on American goods is another step... to open the market to competition, to diversify the economy, and to lower the cost of living," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
"In addition to the economic benefits for the economy and the citizens of Israel, the current move will enable us to further strengthen the alliance and ties between Israel and the United States," added Netanyahu, reports Reuters.
Meanwhile, during the US's announcement of the tariffs, on Wednesday, Israel found itself on the list of countries that were subjected to them anyway. Tariffs on products from Israel are set to be 17 per cent.
As reported by a journalist from "The Jerusalem Post," Israel is in complete shock after the Trump administration's decision. "We are in shock. We were sure that the decision to completely cancel tariffs on imports from the US would prevent this move. But it didn't happen," cites his source Amichai Stein.
The Ynet portal quotes the president of the Israeli Manufacturers Association, Ron Tomer.
"The Israeli industry is deeply worried by President Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs on Israel," said Tomer. "We are working to understand the motivation behind this move. However, the claim that Israel imposes a 33% tariff on American goods is puzzling, and in that context, the US decision to impose 17% tariffs on Israeli goods remains unclear," he added, as reported by Ynet.
The background of the US decision was conveyed by the American correspondent of the Saudi station Asharq News. "Today in a call with reporters on the tariffs, a US administration official said: The problem more broadly with Israel is the intellectual property theft. Israel steals a lot of intellectual property from, for example, the pharmaceutical manufacturers. So, this can't go on," Hida Nasr reported.
