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Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a last-minute visit to Washington to meet with Donald Trump, where the Israeli leader is expected to discuss Iran, the war in Gaza, and tariffs with the US president.
The Washington visit, Netanyahu’s second since Trump was inaugurated in January, comes after the resumption of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, and underlines the strong relationship between the two men.
Trump has pressed Tehran for a new deal on its nuclear programme, although little progress has been made. There is widespread speculation that Israel, possibly with US help, might launch a military strike on Iranian facilities if no agreement is reached.
Al Hadath, a Saudi television channel, reported on Saturday that the US transferred a second THAAD battery and two Patriot batteries to Israel amid rising tensions. Flight tracking websites showed that a C-5M Super Galaxy, a large US air force transport plane, landed at an airbase in southern Israel on Saturday for about eight hours, the Times of Israel reported.
The Biden administration sent one THAAD battery, an advanced anti-missile system, to Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack in October 2023. It has been used since to intercept missile attacks from Iran and the Tehran-allied Houthi group in Yemen.
The US president said on Thursday that he expected a visit soon from Netanyahu – “maybe even next week” – though the Axios website said the timing caught Israeli officials and even some in the Trump administration by surprise.
Monday’s meeting will make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal with Trump after his administration’s decision last week to impose sweeping global tariffs that have shaken stock markets, wiping out $5tn (£3.87tn) in value from S&P 500 index companies by Friday’s close in a record two-day decline.
Israel had attempted to duck the shock 17% tariff on Israeli imports by moving preemptively on Tuesday – a day before the tariffs were announced – to drop all remaining duties on the 1% of American goods still affected by them. But Trump moved ahead with the tariffs, saying the US had a significant trade deficit with its Middle East ally and leading beneficiary of military aid.
The US is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner. The two countries signed a free trade agreement 40 years ago and about 98% of goods from the US are tax-free.
An Israeli finance ministry official said on Thursday that Trump’s latest tariff announcement could affect Israel’s exports of machinery and medical equipment.
Netanyahu will travel to the US on Sunday from Hungary, after a four-day official visit in which the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, had made clear he would defy the ICC arrest warrant for the Israeli leader. During the trip, Orbán announced that Hungary would withdraw from the court, which he said had become too “political”.
Other thorny issues in the meeting on Monday include Israel-Turkey relations and “the fight against the international criminal court”, which has accused the Israeli leader of war crimes, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday night.
Trump and Netanyahu had spoken by phone on Thursday about Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC, of which the US is not a member. The possibility of the Washington visit apparently arose at that time.
Agencies contributed to this report
