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Trump vows to continue strengthening U.S.-Israeli ties

23 May 2017 [15:17] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Kamila Aliyeva

U.S. President Donald Trump, in public remarks after talks with Israeli leaders on the first day of his two-day visit to Jerusalem, promised Israel to deepen friendship and support the country. He spoke in a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 22.

“Today we reaffirmed the unbreakable bond of friendship between Israel and the United States—a friendship built on our shared love of freedom, our shared belief in human dignity, and our shared hope for an Israel at lasting peace. We want Israel to have peace,” said Trump.

Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to visit Washington after President Trump’s inauguration and U.S. President’s visit is another step to reaffirm the bond of friendship between the two countries.

Trump also reiterated his commitment to bringing peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. “We are willing to work together. I believe that a new level of partnership is possible and will happen – one that will bring greater safety to this region, greater security to the United States, and greater prosperity to the world,” said Trump.  

In Jerusalem, Trump focused on Iran, pledging he would never let Tehran acquire nuclear arms.

Netanyahu thanked President Trump for his "change in American policy on Iran," saying that he expects the U.S. and Israel to start taking more aggressive steps to restrain Iran's support for terrorism.

Israel shares the antipathy of many Arab states towards Iran, seeing the Islamic Republic as a threat. "I believe that together we can roll back Iran's march of aggression and terror in this region," Netanyahu said.

Trump once again criticized the Obama administration's Iranian nuclear deal. "It was a terrible, terrible thing for the United States to enter that deal," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister has long been known as an opponent of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and major world powers. Trump has similar views on the issue as he has repeatedly criticized the deal calling it “the worst deal ever negotiated”.

Following the talks with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin Trump described them as "very productive."

He also noted that the U.S. is seeking a higher level of bilateral commerce but a lower trade deficit with Israel.

"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.

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.

Over the first four months of 2017, the US 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.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/161590.html

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