Poor Netanyahu – Econlib

Poor Netanyahu however not poor Israelis.

Israel’s authorities has mentioned it’ll cancel all remaining tariffs on American imports, in an obvious bid to make sure that it’s exempt from a brand new wave of levies that President Trump is ready to announce on Wednesday.

Israel and the US, two shut allies, have had a free-trade settlement since 1985 that excludes most American merchandise from Israeli tariffs. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel introduced the choice to take away all remaining tariffs as a transfer towards better commerce liberalization.

That is from Matthew Mpoke Bigg, “On Eve of Trump’s Tariffs Announcement, Israel Says It Will Raise All Duties on U.S. Imports,” New York Occasions, April 2, 2025.

Poor Benjamin Netnayahu. He clearly should have thought that when Donald Trump mentioned he wished reciprocal tariffs, Donald Trump should have wished reciprocal tariffs. What Netenyahu didn’t perceive is that Trump doesn’t need reciprocal tariffs. As an alternative, he needs to impose excessive tariffs on merchandise from most international locations irrespective of the tariff coverage of the actual nation.

There may be one shiny spot. Having zero tariffs on all imports from the US is an efficient transfer that may profit most Israelis and trigger their actual GDP to be barely larger. It will be even higher for many Israelis if Netanyahu had been to chop tariffs on all imports to zero.