Trump prepares to meet Netanyahu as allies warn US against war with Iran
.webp?itok=JmtdwW15 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788">
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, as he looks for a reprieve on tariffs and potential help to strike Tehran in his second meeting at the White House this year.
"We're going to talk about trade, and we're going to talk about the obvious subject," Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday as he returned from a golfing weekend in Florida.
"There's a lot of things going on with the Middle East right now that have to be silenced."
Despite Trump's no-holds-barred backing for Israel’s war on Gaza, the US’s closest Middle Eastern ally didn’t escape Trump’s tariff broadside last week, getting slapped with 17 percent duties - just three points less than the European Union and substantially higher than most Arab states.
Netanyahu met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday night soon after his arrival, underscoring the economic agenda for the visit.
The US is Israel’s largest economic partner, with bilateral trade totaling $37bn in 2024. In a failed bid to prevent tariffs, Israel cancelled its remaining tariffs on imports from the US a day before Trump unveiled his new tariff policy.
Israel exports electronic equipment, optical equipment, and diamonds to the US, but about two-thirds of its exports are services - especially from its tech sector - which are not subject to tariffs.
Iran, Gaza and Mena region
Several regional issues will likely be discussed between the two leaders, including Israel's war in Gaza, the uneasy truce in Lebanon, and the Israel-Turkey rivalry in Syria. But the elephant in the room is Iran.
The US has been beefing up its military presence in the Middle East, with Trump giving Tehran a window to negotiate a new nuclear deal or face strikes.
That language has unnerved the US’s Gulf partners.
MEE revealed that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait have all told the US they will not permit their airspaces or territories to be used as a launchpad against Iran, including for refuelling and rescue operations, a senior US official told Middle East Eye.
A senior US official told MEE that Israel is prepared to bomb Iran without the US. They said recent Israeli strikes on Syria appeared to be laying the groundwork to attack there without using Gulf airspace.
In a sign that Trump’s inner circle might be alarmed, conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson wrote on Monday ahead of Netanyahu’s visit how “now is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran”.
“We can’t afford it. Thousands of Americans would die. We’d lose the war that follows. Nothing would be more destructive to our country,” he said.
Read More »During Netanyahu’s last visit to the White House, Trump unveiled his plan for the US to take over the Gaza Strip and forcibly expel its Palestinian inhabitants. The plan was criticised by the US’s closest Arab partners but emboldened the Israeli settler movement in Israel, with them calling for the expulsion of Palestinians.
The ceasefire in Gaza that was sealed in January with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressuring Netanyahu, fell apart in March when Israel started pummelling the enclave.
Trump has backed Israel’s attacks on Gaza in public and has not raised any concerns about Israel entrenching itself in the enclave. But the war jeopardises Trump’s goal to seal a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump is expected to visit Saudi Arabia in May.
Netanyahu has several other files to discuss with Trump, including the Lebanese Armed Forces' efforts to disarm Hezbollah and rising tensions between Turkey and Israel in Syria. Israel is occupying five strategic points in southern Lebanon.
MEE revealed earlier on Monday that Netanyahu has been lobbying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against the US selling Turkey F-35s.
Analysts say Trump will likely need to hammer out the Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza files with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he visits and that Riyadh might seek a “grand bargain” which includes normalisation.
