President Donald Trump announced a comprehensive new trade policy on April 2 that reveals a striking disparity in tariff rates between Israel and Iran.

According to the official tariff schedule, Israeli goods will face a 17% tariff rate, while Iranian imports will be subject to only a 10% rate. This comes as the US continues to double down on its so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran while Israel a day earlier announced it had pulled all tariffs from US imports.

The policy, described by Trump as "American Liberation Day," will begin with a base 10% tariff on all goods imported from countries outside the USMCA trade agreement, according to the announcement made in the White House Rose Garden.

China will face the highest tariffs at 34%, followed by India at 26%, Japan at 24%, and the European Union at 20%. Israel's 17% rate falls in the lower middle range but remains higher than Iran's 10% baseline rate.

"It's very simple: if they do it to us - we do it to them," Trump said during his announcement. "We're finally putting America first."

The tariffs will be implemented in stages, with the base 10% rate taking effect this weekend.

Additional country-specific tariffs will begin on April 9, affecting approximately 60 nations that Trump identified as "most harmful."

Other notable tariff rates include Syria at 41%, Libya at 31%, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon at the highest rate of 50%.

Iraq within the MENA region appears to be the worst affected by the sudden imposition of tariffs at 39%, which may reflect the Trump administration’s push to claw back investment from the 2003 war with the country and subsequent occupation.

A separate 25% tariff on all imported vehicles will take effect at 12:01 am on April 4 which are expected to rake in $600bn in taxes.

Financial markets reacted negatively to the announcement, with Nasdaq futures dropping more than 3% and S&P 500 futures falling over 2% in after-hours trading. Japanese Nikkei futures also declined more than 2%, signalling expectations of a particularly negative trading day in Asia.

Economic experts warn that the new tariffs could lead to price increases for American consumers during an already sensitive period for the domestic economy.

Several major trading partners have indicated they will respond with countermeasures, potentially escalating into a global trade war.