The U.S.—Israel Free Trade Area Agreement (FTAA)

General Information

The U.S.-Israel FTA was the first U.S. FTA to enter into force, and it eliminated duties on manufactured goods as of January 1, 1995.

Non-tariff barriers to trade remain in the areas of intellectual property rights, standards and technical regulations, and a lack of transparency in government tendering process. Also, tariff and nontariff barriers continue to affect a certain portion of U.S. agricultural exports. As a result, in 1996 the United States and Israel signed an Agreement on Trade in Agricultural Products (ATAP), establishing gradual and steady market access liberalization for food and agricultural products effective through December 31, 2001. Negotiation and implementation of a successor ATAP was completed in 2004. It was effective through December 31, 2008 and was extended through December 31, 2010 and again through December 31, 2011.

The FTA includes a non-binding statement of intent to eliminate barriers to trade in services such as tourism, communications, banking, insurance, management consulting, accounting, law, computer services, and advertising. It also includes an agreement to eliminate all restrictions on government procurement, and calls on Israel to relax its offsets requirements for government agencies other than the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

By Sector

U.S. exports to Israel grew from $2.5 billion in 1985 to $11.3 billion in 2010. The main U.S. export sectors to Israel are precious metals, electrical machinery, machinery, aircraft, medical instruments and vehicles.

Additional Information