President says the pair had a \u2018great discussion\u2019 while prime minister says Israel will eliminate trade deficit with US<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Donald Trump on Monday for the second time since the US president\u2019s return to office, marking the first effort by a foreign leader to negotiate a deal after Trump announced sweeping tariffs<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said Israel<\/a> would eliminate the trade deficit with the US. \u201cWe intend to do it very quickly,\u201d he told reporters, adding that he believed Israel could \u201cserve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said the pair had a \u201cgreat discussion\u201d but did not indicate whether he would reduce the tariffs on Israeli goods. \u201cMaybe not,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t forget we help Israel a lot. We give Israel $4bn a year. That\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump denied reports that he was considering a 90-day pause on his tariff rollout. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking at that,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cWe have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and there are going to be fair deals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also announced that the US and Iran were beginning talks on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program. \u201cWe\u2019re having direct talks with Iran, and they\u2019ve started. It\u2019ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we\u2019ll see what can happen,\u201d he told reporters. He warned Tehran would be \u201cin great danger\u201d if the talks collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu expressed a cautious support for US-Iran talks but insisted Tehran must not have nuclear weapons. \u201cIf it can be done diplomatically \u2026 I think that would be a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut whatever happens, we must make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comments came in the Oval Office after Trump and Netanyahu held private talks. The White House canceled a joint press conference that was scheduled to take place afterward, without offering an immediate explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu, announcing the last-minute meeting on Sunday, said he was visiting at the invitation of Trump to speak about efforts to release Israeli hostages from Gaza, as well as new US tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meeting came after the Trump administration<\/a> announced his trade war last Wednesday with tariffs on the US\u2019s trading partners, including a 17% tariff on Israeli goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US is Israel\u2019s closest ally and largest single trading partner. Israel had hoped to avoid the new tariffs by moving to cancel its remaining tariffs on US imports a day before Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu met with the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. He also met with the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday night in Washington. The Israeli government described the latter meeting as \u201cwarm, friendly and productive\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Netanyahu\u2019s last visit in February, Trump shocked the world\u2002<\/a>by proposing to take over the Gaza Strip, removing more than 2 million Palestinians and redeveloping the occupied territory as\u2002a \u201cRiviera of the Middle East\u201d<\/a>, in effect endorsing the ethnic cleansing of the people of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, Israel has resumed its bombardment in Gaza, collapsing nearly two months of ceasefire<\/a> with Hamas that had been brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli operations in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, taking the total death toll since the start of the war to more than 50,000. Israel has also halted all supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu\u2019s visit to the US comes as he faces pressure at home to return to ceasefire negotiations and secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that he and Trump had discussed the US leader\u2019s \u201cbold\u201d vision to move Palestinians from Gaza, and that he is working with the US on another deal to secure the release of additional hostages. \u201cWe\u2019re working now on another deal, that we hope will succeed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu also claimed that Israel is committed to \u201cenabling the people of Gaza to freely make a choice to go wherever they want\u201d. Last week, he said Israel was \u201cseizing territory\u201d<\/a> and intended to \u201cdivide up\u201d the Gaza Strip by building a new security corridor, inflaming fears that Israel intends to take permanent control of the strip when the war ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday night from Hungary, after a four-day official visit that marked the Israeli leader\u2019s first visit to European soil since the international criminal court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant\u2002<\/a>for him over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hungary\u2019s prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, made it clear<\/a> he would defy the court to host Netanyahu, and announced that he would take Hungary out of the ICC because it had become \u201cpolitical\u201d. The US is not a member of the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n