President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit down for more talks Monday in what will be be their second White House head-to-head since Trump’s return to office.
The leaders are expected to discuss issues including tariffs, Gaza and the looming Iranian threat.
AP reports the visit, confirmed by a White House official and Netanyahu’s office Saturday, comes as Israel deploys troops in a new security corridor across Gaza to pressure the Hamas terrorist group.
Israel has pledged to escalate the war in Gaza until Hamas returns the remaining hostages seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, disarms and leaves the territory.
Israel also has halted all supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza as it pressures the terrorist group and its supporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called President Donald Trump “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.” Indeed, decades of U.S. policy towards Israel has been reversed under Trump. https://t.co/FfYO7Rvejm
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 24, 2020
Netanyahu’s office in a statement on social media said he and Trump would discuss “the tariff issue, the efforts to return our hostages, Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat and the battle against the International Criminal Court.”
Israel faces a 17 percent tariff imposition.
Tariff talks would make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to travel to Washington in an attempt to negotiate a better deal with Trump.
In February, Netanyahu became the first foreign leader invited to the White House during Trump’s second term.
That initial meeting focused on Israel’s war with Hamas and the next steps as a ceasefire deal took hold.
The U.S. is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner. The two countries signed a free trade agreement 40 years ago and about 98 percent of goods from the U.S. are now tax-free.
