The US President also ducked questions regarding the imposition of tariffs on Israel despite Jerusalem’s efforts to reduce trade barriers
April 8, 2025 09:52
ByJC Reporter, Jewish News Syndicate
US President Donald Trump announced that the US is undertaking direct negotiations with Iran during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, seemingly blindsiding one of his closes allies.
“There’s a major meeting going on between us and Iran. That will take place on Saturday, and it will be top level,” Trump said.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he went on. “If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”
He added that Iran would “be in great danger” if a deal was not agreed, referencing his previous threat of military action with an attached deadline just two months away.
The announcement was later denied by Tehran, with Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi claiming that the talks would be indirect only and saying that direct negotiation would only be considered if all US sanctions against his country were lifted.
“In principle, direct negotiations with a party that continuously threatens violence, violates the UN Charter, and whose various officials issue contradictory statements would be meaningless,” said Araghchi.
However, the timing of Trump’s pronouncement was equally surprising, with the President choosing to discuss unilateral talks with one of Israel’s key regional foes in front of Netanyahu, seemingly without involving him in the negotiations.
He also drew criticism from some in Israel for praising Turkish President Erdogan for “taking over Syria”, despite the latter’s calls for Israel’s destruction only last week as well as Jerusalem’s staunch opposition to increasing Turkish influence in the region.
Trump also said he had a “great” relationship with Erdogan and that he was confident he could “work out” any issues between Israel and Turkey – again, seemingly excluding Netanyahu from the process.
Elsewhere, he ducked questions regarding any relaxation of his newly-imposed tariff regimes and, in particular, the 17 per cent levy attached to imports from Israel.
While among the lower tariff rates in the scheme, Jerusalem was not granted the base 10 per cent rate reserved for countries including the UK, Lebanon and Brazil. There had been hope that the strength of the Israel-US alliance and moves by the Netanyahu government to fully eliminate trade barriers would guarantee a lower rate or even an exemption.
But the tariffs have, according to a formula shared by the White House, been calculated solely on an equation weighing the US trade deficit with each country divided by the total amount that nation exports to the US rather than any political allegiances.
During the meeting, Netanyahu pledged to eliminate any remaining trade barriers, while also reducing the trade deficit between Israel and the US to zero.
However, when asked if he would consider reducing Israel’s tariff rate, or even scrapping it altogether, Trump refused to make any commitments.
He said: “Well, we’re talking about a whole new trade — maybe not.
"Don’t forget, we help Israel a lot. We give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot.
"We give Israel billions of dollars a year. Billions. It’s one of the highest of anyone. We give a lot of countries money, you wouldn’t believe it.
"We take good care of our friends, and we don’t take care of our enemies”