JERUSALEM—President Donald Trump, at the start of a two-day visit to Israel, said on Monday in Jerusalem that he seeks a higher level of bilateral commerce but a lower U.S. trade deficit with Israel.
The United States is Israel’s single-largest trading partner by country, but third-largest regional market behind Europe and Asia. Israel was the first country to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., in 1985.
In 2016, the U.S. exported $8.1 billion of goods and services to Israel while importing $17.6 billion from Israel for a trade deficit of nearly $10 billion.
Overall, the United States has a global foreign trade deficit of about $44 billion. Only 11 percent of total imports into Israel come from the U.S.
“Already our two countries do a great deal of business together. We have a strong foundation on which to build an even closer trading relationship that benefits both of our countries,” Trump said in a speech after meeting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
He then turned away from his script to Rivlin and added half-jokingly: “I’m going to try and narrow that trade deficit just a little bit, is that okay?”
Trump’s administration has ordered a study into the causes of U.S. trade deficits and a clamp-down on import duty evasion. He believes that large deficits are slowing American growth and employment.
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Over the first four months of 2017, the U.S. trade deficit with Israel has narrowed, to $2.8 billion from $3.3 billion in the same period last year, mainly due to higher U.S. exports to Israel.
While Israel maintains a trade surplus with the United States, it has deficits with Europe and Asia.
Hoping to re-start frozen Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Trump earlier landed in Israel on the second leg of a trip that began with a weekend visit to Saudi Arabia.
He will hold talks separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a stopover lasting 28 hours.
