Trump’s “Tariffying” Tollbooth
- Tyler Steffy
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
When Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner last week, I would have bet my life on Israel remaining untouched. I’m glad I didn’t.
The United States and Israel share a deep and extensive economic relationship built on decades of trade, investment, and technological cooperation. The U.S. is Israel’s largest trading partner, and Israel is a key hub for American companies operating in sectors like defense, cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. Joint ventures, research partnerships, and billions in annual trade have–for better or for worse–created an economic relationship that few other countries share with the United States. So I was shocked when, toward the bottom of Trump’s guide to economic collapse, he listed a 17 percent reciprocal tariff on Israel—one that will single-handedly define the future of foreign policy.
Regrettably, this has nothing to do with the war in Gaza. In fact, the tariff will likely worsen the violence. To compensate for the estimated $2.3 billion loss of U.S. commerce, Israel could turn to its next largest partners, China and Ireland, for increased business. Both the Chinese and Irish governments are some of the strongest critics of Israel, with Ireland even joining South Africa’s genocide accusation. This means that newfound codependence with other economies could lessen the disapproval and normalize the war, all while Israel still receives the same level of military and political support from America.
But while Israel may end up with more global support, there’s a much larger problem in terms of foreign relations. By any meaningful metric, Israel is a far-right government. Prime Minister Netanyahu has embraced nationalist rhetoric, aligned with extreme conservatives, and fought to strip courts of their power. That hits a little too close to home for those of us living under Trump’s wannabe autocracy.
Given their ideological alignment, you’d think Netanyahu’s Israel would be among the countries safest from Trump’s economic wrath. Let’s not forget who campaigned and delivered a promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Trump regularly praises “strong leaders” who consolidate power, and few heads of state have done that more enthusiastically than Netanyahu. But this tariff makes one thing uncomfortably clear: it’s not about allies or enemies. Loyalty to Trump’s worldview doesn’t exempt anyone from his ego trips. Nobody is safe.
It’s also abundantly clear there was no economic strategy to this decision because it was created with an arbitrary number. The U.S. has traded 99 percent tariff-free with Israel since 1985. The last one percent was removed the night before in an attempt to appease Trump. So the current administration calculated the tariff because they pulled a false number out of the air in claiming Israel has a 33 percent tariff on all American goods. Centuries of negotiations, alliances, wars, and countless people spending their lives to build American global power are being wiped out by random numbers made up to hurt our closest allies.
What we're seeing isn’t a strategy to protect workers. It’s a trade war governed by vibes, grudges, and gut instinct. The tariff on Israel didn’t result from months of deliberation with the U.S. Trade Representative or a recalibration of Middle East policy. It’s a signal to the world that, after a decade in the presidential spotlight, Trump’s “America First” doctrine has finally evolved into “America Alone.” Even countries that check every box on the MAGA litmus test—militarism, nationalism, religious conservatism—are still vulnerable to becoming collateral damage in his scorched-earth economic agenda.
There may not be an economic or mathematical strategy to his tariffs other than purposefully crashing the stock market so wealthy elites can buy low and massively expand their wealth when it rebounds, but that doesn’t mean Trump has no strategy at all.
Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on Monday was the first time a world leader descended on the capital to negotiate tariffs with the president, and more than 50 countries have requested to speak with Trump since his so-called “Liberation Day.”
His strategy is not diplomacy. His strategy is extortion. Trump has effectively created a tollbooth at the gates of the global economy and stationed himself as the only one with the key. The goal isn't to punish bad actors or reward good ones. And it’s not to create new trade agreements and rebuild American manufacturing. It's to force every nation—friend or foe—to show up in person, bend the knee, and beg for economic relief. It’s The Art of the Deal applied to foreign policy, except this time he actually wrote it, and the stakes aren’t licensing fees and golf resorts.
In Trump’s mind, tariffs are leverage. Not to build a better world order, but to build a narrative where he's at the center of every negotiation, every summit, and every headline. If Netanyahu, a man untouchable in current American political rhetoric, is seeing it fit to fly across the world and plead his case at Trump’s feet, imagine how many others will follow. This isn’t economic populism, it’s a transactional theater where the price of a foreign leader’s admission is their dignity.
But dignity has a breaking point. When world leaders queue up at the throne of a petty tyrant and pay tribute just to preserve the illusion of normalcy, the entire architecture of global trust and two-way relationships begins to splinter. Trump’s tariffs are not just foreign taxes on goods. They are tolls on sovereignty and entrance fees to a new world where loyalty is leased, not earned.
In trying to make the world revolve around him, where not even our closest ally is safe, Trump has thrown it off its axis and into a marketplace of imperialism. In the end, the most dangerous export of all isn’t steel, soybeans, or even semiconductors.
It’s American unpredictability, now fully weaponized and up for sale to the highest bidder.
Photo Credit:
[Header]: Israeli Prime Minister's Office
[Embedded 1]: Mark Schiefelbein | AP
[Embedded 2]: Saul Loeb | AFP
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