Israel was not spared from US President Donald Trump’s sweeping decree to impose levies on global imports and was hit Wednesday with a 17 percent tariff on products exported to America. This, despite Jerusalem’s blitz action a day earlier to lift all remaining duties on US imports,

The move was an apparent bid to ensure that Israel is exempt from new tariffs that President Trump plans to announce on Wednesday.

Israel on Tuesday announced the elimination of all tariffs on imports from the United States, Israel's Prime Minister's Office and the finance and economy ministries said in a joint statement. The reduction is largely seen as a diplomatic and political gesture rather than an economic one,