Whether Netanyahu's visit succeeds in bringing down or eliminating Israel's tariffs remains to be seen, but how it plays out could set the stage for how other world leaders try to address the new tariffs.
Despite hopes that he'll back off his trade policies, the president said he's not going to pause plans for tariffs.
"We're not looking at that," he said in the Oval Office. However, he also said foreign leaders were looking to cut new trade deals with the U.S.
"We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate with us," he said.
Trump said there was no contradiction between implementing tariffs and holding talks."They can both be true," he said.
Trump made the comments to reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He said the talks with Tehran would start Saturday but insisted Tehran can't get nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu vowed to eliminate the trade deficit with the United States after Israel was hit by 17% tariffs by Trump last week.
As he met with Trump in the Oval Office, the prime minister said Israel will work to eliminate the trade deficit "very quickly" and added that Israel will also work to eliminate trade barriers with the U.S.
"Israel can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same," Netanyahu said. He added: "I'm a free trade champion, and free trade has to be fair trade."
Netanyahu said he and Trump discussed ongoing efforts to get hostages released from Gaza and said they are working on another deal to release hostages "that we hope will succeed."
The Israeli leader said that they're committed to getting all of the hostages released and eliminating Hamas from Gaza.
He said he also spoke to Trump about the U.S. president's plan to move displaced Palestinians from Gaza while it's redeveloped, which Netanyahu called a "bold" vision.