Israel’s Netanyahu visiting Trump on April 7 to discuss tariffs, Gaza, Iran

WASHINGTON - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, discussing issues including tariffs and the “Iranian threat,” his office said on April 5.

The meeting will take place on April 4, a White House official said on condition of anonymity.

The two countries are dealing with a set of extremely thorny issues, including Mr Trump’s shock imposition of 17 per cent tariffs on Israeli imports, an elusive search for a ceasefire in Gaza, and mounting concern over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Netanyahu will meet Mr Trump to “discuss tariffs, efforts to bring back Israeli hostages (from Gaza), Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat, and the fight against the International Criminal Court,” or ICC, which has

accused the Israeli leader

of war crimes, his Jerusalem office said, in an April 5 statement.

Tariff talks would make Mr Netanyahu the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal with Mr Trump.

Israel had attempted to duck the

tariffs imposed on nearly every country

by moving preemptively April 1 – a day before Mr Trump’s big global tariff announcement – to drop all remaining duties on the 1 per cent of American goods still affected by them.

But Mr Trump moved ahead with the tariffs, saying the United States had a significant trade deficit with its Middle East ally and top beneficiary of military aid.

Mr Trump had said April 3 that he expected a visit soon from Mr Netanyahu – “maybe even next week” – though the Axios website said Israeli officials and even some in the Trump administration were caught by surprise.

Also on the agenda will be stalled efforts to reach a new agreement on a Gaza ceasefire deal and the return by the Hamas militants of the remaining hostages. Israel

renewed military operations

there last month, ending a short-lived truce.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Iran, so far amid few signs of progress, for

a new deal on its nuclear programme.

There has been widespread speculation that Israel, possibly with US help, might launch a military strike on Iranian facilities if no agreement is reached.

Mr Netanyahu’s US visit, originally expected to take place later this month, appears to have been moved up following the tariff announcement on April 2, Axios reported.

Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu had spoken by phone on April 3 about Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the possibility of the Washington visit apparently arose at that time. AFP