Netanyahu to visit Trump at the White House tomorrow as world scrambles in response to tariffs

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington to meet with Donald Trump, discussing issues including tariffs and the “Iranian threat”.

The meeting, which will take place tomorrow according to a White House official, will see Netanyahu become the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal with Trump.

It comes as countries the world over scramble to temper Trump’s tariffs. 

More than 50 countries have sought talks with the US President in response to his announcement earlier this week. 

Trump has insisted he will stand firm on the tariffs, but his staggered deadlines have left space for some countries to negotiate. 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today that “the world as we knew it” is over.

In an op-ed for the Sunday Telegraph, Starmer wrote that Trump’s tariffs show that “old assumptions can no longer be taken for granted” and that the new world will be governed less by established rules and “more by deals and alliances”.

Global financial markets have already been sent into a tailspin as a result of the tariff announcements, with further plunges expected tomorrow. 

Today, the Saudi stock exchange saw a five-year record fall after the tariffs, with the worst daily loss seen today since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trump has warned Americans of pain ahead.

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“This is an economic revolution, and we will win,” the Republican president wrote on his Truth Social platform yesterday.

“Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”

Netanyahu meeting 

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

Netanyahu will meet 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,” which has accused the Israeli leader of war crimes, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Israel had attempted to duck the tariffs imposed on nearly every country by moving preemptively Tuesday – a day before Trump’s big global tariff announcement – to drop all remaining duties on the one percent of American goods still affected by them.

But Trump moved ahead with the tariffs, saying the United States had a significant trade deficit with its ally Israel.

Trump said earlier this week that he expected a visit soon from Netanyahu – “maybe even next week” – though according to US news site Axios, 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.

Trump meanwhile has pressed Iran, so far amid few signs of progress, for a new deal on its nuclear program. There has been widespread speculation that Israel, possibly with US help, might launch a military strike on Iranian facilities if no agreement is reached.

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

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