Exactly a month before US President Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement of his new tariff policy, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich flew to Washington. For the first time, he was hosted at the White House, after being considered persona non grata during the administration of Joe Biden.
The climax of the visit was a meeting with Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. "We agreed in our meeting on strengthening economic cooperation between the US and Israel," Bezalel declared when he returned to Israel.
One of the subjects that that the Israeli Ministry of Finance was most concerned about in connection with Smotrich’s Washington visit was the tariffs program. Trump never concealed his intention of boosting US manufacturing and conducting foreign policy through tariffs, so there was tension in advance of the announcement. The Ministry of Finance hoped that Smotrich would put out feelers on the matter, and would persuade his US colleagues to soften the expected blow to Israel.
But now, after the imposition of a 17% tariff on Israeli goods exported to the US, Ministry of Finance officials are saying that Smotrich met the wrong man entirely. In the US administration, the person responsible for the explosive subject of tariffs is not Secretary of Treasury Bessent, but Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
In the thick report released by the US there is no mention of the efforts by Israel to curry favor with the Trump regime and win relaxations. The efforts included cancellation of all tariffs on US exports to Israel, and broadening of the "What’s good for Europe is good for Israel" reform to recognition of US as well as European standards. The Ministry of Finance explained that the US ignored these measures because they were introduced at the last minute. But not only because of that. It seems that, in his meeting in Washington, the minister simply spent his energy on the wrong person.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 3, 2025.
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