On Nov. 14, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order “modifying the scope of the reciprocal tariff with respect to certain agricultural products,” which offered a reprieve to religious Jews.
Among the excluded items were “etrogs,” “date palm branches, myrtus branches or other vegetable material, for religious purposes only” and “bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and similar baked products, nesoi, and puddings, whether or not containing chocolate, fruit, nuts or confectionery, for religious purposes only,” which includes matzah.
Rabbi A.D. Motzen, national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel of America, told JNS that concerns about the cost of religious items surfaced “literally minutes” after Trump announced the tariff program in the Rose Garden on April 2.
“We don’t have a position on tariffs or trade policy,” Motzen said, of Agudah. “Our only concern was to protect our community from a sudden price increase of items that are essential to our religious practices and that could not be readily produced in the United States.”
The Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff system, introduced earlier this year, adds blanket charges to all imports and layers additional penalties on countries whose trade with the United States it considers unbalanced. Since Israel exports more to the United States than it imports, Trump imposed a 15% tariff on the Jewish state’s goods.
James Kahn, a former vice president of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told JNS that Trump’s opting to carve out a religious exemption for Passover and Sukkot items was “a smart political move.”
“An influential group cared deeply about it, and exempting these items doesn’t disrupt any major U.S. industry,” said Kahn, an economics professor and chair of the department at Yeshiva University. “There is some domestic production of etrogs and of matzah, but not enough for this exemption to matter economically.”
“Symbolically, it helps maintain good relations with the Jewish community and with Israel,” he told JNS.
A pending U.S. Supreme Court case could upend the tariff program completely.
Trump imposed the duties under emergency economic powers. If the justices rule that the declared emergency was not justified, the administration would need to find a new legal basis for the tariffs or withdraw them.
Kahn told JNS that the tenor of the questions suggests that the court may well take that view.
For matzah, the stakes were especially high. Motzen, of Agudah, told JNS that roughly 80% of machine-made matzah sold in the United States is imported from Israel. The tariffs would have added another 15% in costs for importers.
That increase would have sharply raised prices for Jewish families that rely on such matzah for Passover observance, he said.
Ahead of last Passover, the Rabbinical Alliance of America-Igud Harabbonim, which represents more than 950 Orthodox rabbis across the country, urged the administration to exempt Israeli matzah, calling it “an essential and irreplaceable part of their religious observance.”
The group also requested exemptions for tefillin and mezuzah scrolls, which were not included in the final order.
Over the next seven months, Agudah and other Jewish groups pressed the Trump administration to create exemptions for religious items, including the Sukkot items and matzah.
Motzen told JNS that the administration was “receptive immediately” and that the final decision was thanks to collaborative efforts among the White House faith office, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Departments of Commerce and of Treasury.
“We appreciate that the White House took the matter seriously when we and others brought up these issues and worked with the relevant agencies to find a solution,” Motzen stated.
“Pesach is already a very expensive holiday to observe, and you can’t celebrate Pesach without matzah,” he added. “This was an example of how the Trump administration is committed to protecting religious liberty, and we greatly appreciate their effort.”
