Washington DC – In response to President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariff announcement, including new tariffs levied on Israel, J Street Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg said:
“We’re deeply alarmed by the Trump Administration’s imposition of damaging, arbitrary and nonsensical tariffs on US allies and partners, including a new 17% tariff on all Israeli imports.
This economic self-sabotage amounts to a major regressive tax hike on every American while seriously undermining our alliances and diplomatic influence. The splitscreen is damning, coming at the same time as Trump presses for a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.
The 17% tariff on Israel is higher than the rate imposed on several other close allies and will have an outsized impact on Israeli workers and businesses. The US is Israel’s largest trading partner, and these tariffs come at a time when Israeli workers and businesses are still struggling following the October 7 attacks and the ensuing war.
It also violates the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement, signed by President Reagan in 1984, and is especially confusing as it comes following the Israeli government’s pledge to remove all tariffs on US goods. Trump is undercutting a key tenant of the US-Israel relationship: Close economic ties between the two countries.
Trump’s bait and switch approach toward Israel is the same as his approach to the American working class – big on bluster, while the real-life consequences are deeply harmful to everyone he claims to be fighting for.”