Donald Trump may love Israel, but customs loves even more,” says the judaic diary “Haaretz”. Jews are dissatisfied with the U.S. President's decision to impose advanced duties on their country.
The paper pointed out that the impact of the fresh duties on the Israeli economy is hard to measure for the time being, but it should not be so bad in the opinion of the journal, due to the fact that more than 40% of Israeli exports to the US are services alternatively than goods. However, ‘Haarec’ stressed another dangers arising from Trump's imposition of duties on imports from respective twelve countries on Wednesday.
Israel is 1 of the main beneficiaries of globalisation, and its economy is based on exports and would lose out on the decline in trade worldwide or the relocation of its centres outside the US and China, which Trump's customs tariffs can lead to," noted the journal.
He added that the US is not only Israel's largest trading partner, but besides a guarantor of its safety and a major political ally, so the Jerusalem government cannot afford a trade war with the United States.
Israel, the day before Trump's Wednesday statement, abolished the fewer import duties inactive in force on American goods in hopes that it would prevent the country from imposing reciprocal duties. This step proved to be “a complete failure”, commented the economical portal “The Marker”. In his view, Trump's decision could increase inflation in Israel and the losses of exporters.
The imposition of fresh duties caused an alarm in the Israeli government and a series of crisis meetings of the Finance Minister Becalel Smotricz with business representatives,” said the economical diary “Calcalist”. The paper added that in government and business circles there is simply a feeling of surprise and fear and an effort to realize how fresh regulations will affect the Israeli economy. This is hard due to the fact that "it is not known whether Trump himself understands the consequences of their introduction," he noted, quoting 1 of the Israeli entrepreneurs.
Israel is likely to make diplomatic efforts to reduce the rate of reciprocal duties first to the base level of 10% and then completely abolish them," wrote the Times of Israel portal. According to U.S. government statistics, in 2024 exports of goods from Israel to the US were worth more than $22 billion and imports from the United States – nearly $15 billion.
Source: PAP
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