Israel has eliminated all its remaining tariffs on imports from the United States despite a global trend that has seen many countries reciprocating US President Donald Trump’s policy of imposing tariffs on their exports to the US.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Economy Minister Nir Barkat and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday that the removal of tariffs would benefit the Israeli economy and would enable the regime to further strengthen its alliance and ties with the US.

Israel has a free trade agreement with the US that dates back to 40 years ago. However, it used to collect tariffs on some agriculture imports from the US that amounted to about 42 million shekels ($11.3 million) per year.

The move came a day before Trump was to announce sweeping levies on imports from both “friendly and enemy countries”, a decision that has sparked widespread international criticism with many countries vowing to retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on imports from the US.

However, Smotrich, a controversial minister known for his extremist views, urged other Israeli ministries to swiftly coordinate with relevant US entities to protect Israeli imports from any harm that might be caused by US tariff announcements on April 2.

The minister, who briefly resigned on Monday to become a member of parliament, claimed that the elimination of tariffs on imports from the US was a significant step in safeguarding the Israeli economy.

However, the decision, which has been seen by many as another act of subservience to Washington, is expected to harm the agriculture sector in the Israeli-occupied territories.    

That comes as Israel’s Agriculture Ministry has said that it might compensate Israeli farmers if they were damaged by Trump’s tariff policies.

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