ILFTA

The U.S.–Israel Free Trade Agreement is the oldest FTA the U.S. has — in effect since 1985, with tariffs on manufactured goods fully phased out by 1995. Goods that genuinely qualify as made in Israel can enter the U.S. duty-free. That discount isn't automatic: someone has to confirm the product qualifies and claim it at entry. No claim means the normal duty rate applies, even on goods that would have qualified.

How to determine if you can claim it 

1. Find the product's HTS classification code. You'll need this to check the current combined rate (see status check below), even though the FTA's own origin test doesn't require it directly.
2. Check whether it actually counts as "made in" Israel. Unlike the tariff-shift tests in newer agreements, the Israel FTA uses a single value-added test: the good must be wholly grown, produced, or manufactured in Israel, or "substantially transformed" there, with at least 35% of its appraised value coming from Israeli materials and processing costs (labor, equipment depreciation, R&D, testing). Up to 15 percentage points of that 35% can come from U.S.-origin materials instead, so combined Israeli and U.S. content can add up to qualify.
3. Ship it directly. The goods generally need to move straight from Israel to the U.S. without further processing or substantial alteration in a third country along the way.
4. There's no official certificate-of-origin form. You need to be confident the product qualifies and be able to attest to it — and have the supporting information ready if CBP asks.
5. Keep records, and recheck the rate. Hold on to invoices, cost breakdowns, and anything else showing what the product is made of and where, for at least 5 years. The tariff landscape layered on top of this FTA has shifted repeatedly — worth rechecking the current combined rate periodically, even after a claim is made.

Source: CBP — Israel FTA

Status check (August 2026) 

The FTA's duty-free treatment for qualifying goods is still in force. Separately, Israel sits in the 12.5% tier of the Section 301 forced-labor tariff system (roughly 60 countries) — that 12.5% applies on top of the FTA, so an Israel FTA-qualifying good would generally still owe 12.5% rather than landing at 0% (though still better than a non-qualifying good, which owes 12.5% plus its normal duty rate). Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (50%) and derivative metal products (25%) apply regardless of FTA status. Check the current combined rate for the specific HTS code before assuming the FTA gets you to zero.