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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught this week left a lot of losers – from small, poor countries like Laos and Algeria to wealthy U.S. trading partners like Canada and Switzerland. They’re now facing especially hefty taxes – tariffs – on the products they export to the United States starting Aug. 7.

The closest thing to winners may be the countries that caved to Trump’s demands — and avoided even more pain. But it’s unclear whether anyone will be able to claim victory in the long run — even the United States, the intended beneficiary of Trump’s protectionist policies.

“In many respects, everybody’s a loser here,’’ said Barry Appleton, co-director of the Center for International Law at the New York Law School.

Barely six months after he returned to the White House, Trump has demolished the old global economic order. Gone is one built on agreed-upon rules. In its place is a system in which Trump himself sets the rules, using America’s enormous economic power to punish countries that won’t agree to one-sided trade deals and extracting huge concessions from the ones that do.

“The biggest winner is Trump,” said Alan Wolff, a former U.S. trade official and deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization. “He bet that he could get other countries to the table on the basis of threats, and he succeeded – dramatically.’’

Everything goes back to what Trump calls “Liberation Day’’ – April 2 – when the president announced “reciprocal’’ taxes of up to 50% on imports from countries with which the United States ran trade deficits and 10% “baseline’’ taxes on almost everyone else.

He invoked a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his sweeping import taxes. That allowed him to bypass Congress, which traditionally has had authority over taxes, including tariffs — all of which is now being challenged in court.

Winners will still pay higher tariffs than before Trump took office

Trump retreated temporarily after his Liberation Day announcement triggered a rout in financial markets and suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate.

Eventually, some of them did, caving to Trump’s demands to pay what four months ago would have seemed unthinkably high tariffs for the privilege of continuing to sell into the vast American market.

The United Kingdom agreed to 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States — up from 1.3% before Trump amped up his trade war with the world. The U.S. demanded concessions even though it had run a trade surplus, not a deficit, with the UK for 19 straight years.

The European Union and Japan accepted U.S. tariffs of 15%. Those are much higher than the low single-digit rates they paid last year — but lower than the tariffs he was threatening (30% on the EU and 25% on Japan).

Also cutting deals with Trump and agreeing to hefty tariffs were Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Even countries that saw their tariffs lowered from April without reaching a deal are still paying much higher tariffs than before Trump took office. Angola’s tariff, for instance, dropped to 15% from 32% in April, but in 2022 it was less than 1.5%. And while Trump administration cut Taiwan’s tariff to 20% from 32% in April, the pain will still be felt.

“20% from the beginning has not been our goal, we hope that in further negotiations we will get a more beneficial and more reasonable tax rate,” Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te told reporters in Taipei Friday.

Trump also agreed to reduce the tariff on the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho to 15% from the 50% he’d announced in April, but the damage may already have been done there.

Bashing Brazil, clobbering Canada, shellacking the Swiss

Countries that didn’t knuckle under — and those that found other ways to incur Trump’s wrath — got hit harder.

Even some poorer countries were not spared. Laos’ annual economic output comes to $2,100 per person and Algeria’s $5,600 — versus America’s $75,000. Nonetheless, Laos got rocked with a 40% tariff and Algeria with a 30% levy.

Trump slammed Brazil with a 50% import tax largely because he didn’t like the way it was treating former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for trying to lose his electoral defeat in 2022. Never mind that the U.S. has exported more to Brazil than it’s imported every year since 2007.

Trump’s decision to plaster a 35% tariff on longstanding U.S. ally Canada was partly designed to threaten Ottawa for saying it would recognize a Palestinian state. Trump is a staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Switzerland was clobbered with a 39% import tax — even higher than the 31% Trump originally announced on April 2.

“The Swiss probably wish that they had camped in Washington’’ to make a deal, said Wolff, now senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “They’re clearly not at all happy.’’

Fortunes may change if Trump’s tariffs are upended in court. Five American businesses and 12 states are suing the president, arguing that his Liberation Day tariffs exceeded his authority under the 1977 law.

In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, agreed and blocked the tariffs, although the government was allowed to continue collecting them while its appeal wend its way through the legal system, and may likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a hearing Thursday, the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sounded skeptical about Trump’s justifications for the tariffs.

“If (the tariffs) get struck down, then maybe Brazil’s a winner and not a loser,’’ Appleton said.

Paying more for knapsacks and video games

Trump portrays his tariffs as a tax on foreign countries. But they are actually paid by import companies in the U.S. who try to pass along the cost to their customers via higher prices. True, tariffs can hurt other countries by forcing their exporters to cut prices and sacrifice profits — or risk losing market share in the United States.

But economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that overseas exporters have absorbed just one-fifth of the rising costs from tariffs, while Americans and U.S. businesses have picked up the most of the tab.

Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Ford, Best Buy, Adidas, Nike, Mattel and Stanley Black & Decker, have all hiked prices due to U.S. tariffs

“This is a consumption tax, so it disproportionately affects those who have lower incomes,’’ Appleton said. “Sneakers, knapsacks … your appliances are going to go up. Your TV and electronics are going to go up. Your video game devices, consoles are going to up because none of those are made in America.’’

Trump’s trade war has pushed the average U.S. tariff from 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18.3% now, the highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. And that will impose a $2,400 cost on the average household, the lab estimates.

“The U.S. consumer’s a big loser,″ Wolff said.

____

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught this week left a lot of losers – from small, poor countries like Laos and Algeria to wealthy U.S. trading partners like Canada and Switzerland. They’re now facing especially hefty taxes – tariffs – on the products they export to the United States starting Aug. 7.

The closest thing to winners may be the countries that caved to Trump’s demands — and avoided even more pain. But it’s unclear whether anyone will be able to claim victory in the long run — even the United States, the intended beneficiary of Trump’s protectionist policies.

“In many respects, everybody’s a loser here,’’ said Barry Appleton, co-director of the Center for International Law at the New York Law School.

Barely six months after he returned to the White House, Trump has demolished the old global economic order. Gone is one built on agreed-upon rules. In its place is a system in which Trump himself sets the rules, using America’s enormous economic power to punish countries that won’t agree to one-sided trade deals and extracting huge concessions from the ones that do.

“The biggest winner is Trump,” said Alan Wolff, a former U.S. trade official and deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization. “He bet that he could get other countries to the table on the basis of threats, and he succeeded – dramatically.’’

Everything goes back to what Trump calls “Liberation Day’’ – April 2 – when the president announced “reciprocal’’ taxes of up to 50% on imports from countries with which the United States ran trade deficits and 10% “baseline’’ taxes on almost everyone else.

He invoked a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his sweeping import taxes. That allowed him to bypass Congress, which traditionally has had authority over taxes, including tariffs — all of which is now being challenged in court.

Winners will still pay higher tariffs than before Trump took office

Trump retreated temporarily after his Liberation Day announcement triggered a rout in financial markets and suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate.

Eventually, some of them did, caving to Trump’s demands to pay what four months ago would have seemed unthinkably high tariffs for the privilege of continuing to sell into the vast American market.

The United Kingdom agreed to 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States — up from 1.3% before Trump amped up his trade war with the world. The U.S. demanded concessions even though it had run a trade surplus, not a deficit, with the UK for 19 straight years.

The European Union and Japan accepted U.S. tariffs of 15%. Those are much higher than the low single-digit rates they paid last year — but lower than the tariffs he was threatening (30% on the EU and 25% on Japan).

Also cutting deals with Trump and agreeing to hefty tariffs were Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Even countries that saw their tariffs lowered from April without reaching a deal are still paying much higher tariffs than before Trump took office. Angola’s tariff, for instance, dropped to 15% from 32% in April, but in 2022 it was less than 1.5%. And while Trump administration cut Taiwan’s tariff to 20% from 32% in April, the pain will still be felt.

“20% from the beginning has not been our goal, we hope that in further negotiations we will get a more beneficial and more reasonable tax rate,” Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te told reporters in Taipei Friday.

Trump also agreed to reduce the tariff on the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho to 15% from the 50% he’d announced in April, but the damage may already have been done there.

Bashing Brazil, clobbering Canada, shellacking the Swiss

Countries that didn’t knuckle under — and those that found other ways to incur Trump’s wrath — got hit harder.

Even some poorer countries were not spared. Laos’ annual economic output comes to $2,100 per person and Algeria’s $5,600 — versus America’s $75,000. Nonetheless, Laos got rocked with a 40% tariff and Algeria with a 30% levy.

Trump slammed Brazil with a 50% import tax largely because he didn’t like the way it was treating former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for trying to lose his electoral defeat in 2022. Never mind that the U.S. has exported more to Brazil than it’s imported every year since 2007.

Trump’s decision to plaster a 35% tariff on longstanding U.S. ally Canada was partly designed to threaten Ottawa for saying it would recognize a Palestinian state. Trump is a staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Switzerland was clobbered with a 39% import tax — even higher than the 31% Trump originally announced on April 2.

“The Swiss probably wish that they had camped in Washington’’ to make a deal, said Wolff, now senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “They’re clearly not at all happy.’’

Fortunes may change if Trump’s tariffs are upended in court. Five American businesses and 12 states are suing the president, arguing that his Liberation Day tariffs exceeded his authority under the 1977 law.

In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, agreed and blocked the tariffs, although the government was allowed to continue collecting them while its appeal wend its way through the legal system, and may likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a hearing Thursday, the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sounded skeptical about Trump’s justifications for the tariffs.

“If (the tariffs) get struck down, then maybe Brazil’s a winner and not a loser,’’ Appleton said.

Paying more for knapsacks and video games

Trump portrays his tariffs as a tax on foreign countries. But they are actually paid by import companies in the U.S. who try to pass along the cost to their customers via higher prices. True, tariffs can hurt other countries by forcing their exporters to cut prices and sacrifice profits — or risk losing market share in the United States.

But economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that overseas exporters have absorbed just one-fifth of the rising costs from tariffs, while Americans and U.S. businesses have picked up the most of the tab.

Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Ford, Best Buy, Adidas, Nike, Mattel and Stanley Black & Decker, have all hiked prices due to U.S. tariffs

“This is a consumption tax, so it disproportionately affects those who have lower incomes,’’ Appleton said. “Sneakers, knapsacks … your appliances are going to go up. Your TV and electronics are going to go up. Your video game devices, consoles are going to up because none of those are made in America.’’

Trump’s trade war has pushed the average U.S. tariff from 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18.3% now, the highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. And that will impose a $2,400 cost on the average household, the lab estimates.

“The U.S. consumer’s a big loser,″ Wolff said.

____

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.

Hamas on Saturday said it would not disarm “as long as the occupation exists,” denying reported remarks to the contrary by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and blasting him for visiting an aid site run by the controversial, US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue its violent struggle, saying its right to do so was guaranteed by international law until Palestinians’ “national rights” were realized, “foremost among them… the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty and Jerusalem as its capital.”

The terror group also assailed Witkoff’s visit to the GHF amid reports of soaring hunger in Gaza, and that hundreds of Palestinian aid seekers have been killed near the agency’s four distribution sites in the south and center of the enclave since they started operating in mid-May.

“The American administration is a full partner in the crime of starvation and genocide,” said Hamas. It added that Witkoff’s visit was “nothing more than a pre-arranged theatrical performance” to provide Israel with “political cover for managing starvation and continuing the systematic killing of children and unarmed civilians from our people.”

The terror group called on the US “to bear its historical responsibility by lifting the cover from the crime of the century in Gaza and moving toward a ceasefire agreement that leads to ending the aggression.”

Israel has vociferously denied the claim it is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians and accusing Hamas of using civilians and human shields. Jerusalem has also rejected as Hamas propaganda allegations that it is purposely starving the territory, and accuses the terror group of hijacking UN aid deliveries.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center) tour a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site on August 1, 2025. (Steve Witkoff/X)

GHF, which seeks to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, launched its operations in May, sidelining the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade it had imposed on Gaza.

Other humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, saying its distribution plan puts aid-seekers in danger. Since the group began operating in Gaza, Hamas’s civil defense agency and foreign correspondents inside Gaza have reported frequent incidents in which Israeli troops have opened fire on crowds of desperate Palestinian civilians approaching GHF centers seeking food.

Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 25, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israel has accused Hamas of attacking Gazan aid seekers and falsifying death tolls, but has also acknowledged that Palestinian civilians have been killed near GHF aid distribution sites. The IDF says troops have been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned.”

Witkoff: No ‘perfect news’ to share on ceasefire-hostage talks

Hamas’s vow to retain its arsenal came four days after an unprecedented declaration by the entire Arab League, as well as dozens of other countries, urging the terror group to disarm and condemning its onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Witkoff appeared to allude to the declaration when he told hostage families during a visit to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday that “some Arab countries are demanding that Hamas disarm,” according to Hebrew media accounts of his comments.

“Hamas said that it is ready to demilitarize,” Witkoff reportedly said.

At the same time, he told the hostage families that he has no “perfect news” to share with them about the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks, which have stalled for over a week following the US and Israel’s withdrawal of their negotiators from Doha.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks to hostages’ families at Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, August 2, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

“I wish I had perfect news for you, but it’s a super-complicated situation and I don’t have perfect news for you,” said Witkoff, according to audio from the meeting published by Channel 12. “Do I believe we are going to be successful here ultimately? I do, for a lot of reasons and some of those I can’t discuss right now.”

Witkoff also said that US President Donald Trump was now seeking a comprehensive deal to end the war and bring all the hostages home, echoing a senior Israeli official who had told reporters Thursday that “there will be no more partial deals” with Hamas.

In the audio published by Channel 12, Witkoff could be heard saying: “No piecemeal deals… that doesn’t work.” He also reportedly called negotiations with Hamas frustrating, accusing the terror group of failing to stand by its word.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for repeatedly presenting proposals that would release only some of the remaining 50 hostages, 28 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF.

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Hamas on Saturday said it would not disarm “as long as the occupation exists,” denying reported remarks to the contrary by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and blasting him for visiting an aid site run by the controversial, US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue its violent struggle, saying its right to do so was guaranteed by international law until Palestinians’ “national rights” were realized, “foremost among them… the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty and Jerusalem as its capital.”

The terror group also assailed Witkoff’s visit to the GHF amid reports of soaring hunger in Gaza, and that hundreds of Palestinian aid seekers have been killed near the agency’s four distribution sites in the south and center of the enclave since they started operating in mid-May.

“The American administration is a full partner in the crime of starvation and genocide,” said Hamas. It added that Witkoff’s visit was “nothing more than a pre-arranged theatrical performance” to provide Israel with “political cover for managing starvation and continuing the systematic killing of children and unarmed civilians from our people.”

The terror group called on the US “to bear its historical responsibility by lifting the cover from the crime of the century in Gaza and moving toward a ceasefire agreement that leads to ending the aggression.”

Israel has vociferously denied the claim it is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians and accusing Hamas of using civilians and human shields. Jerusalem has also rejected as Hamas propaganda allegations that it is purposely starving the territory, and accuses the terror group of hijacking UN aid deliveries.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center) tour a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site on August 1, 2025. (Steve Witkoff/X)

GHF, which seeks to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, launched its operations in May, sidelining the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade it had imposed on Gaza.

Other humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, saying its distribution plan puts aid-seekers in danger. Since the group began operating in Gaza, Hamas’s civil defense agency and foreign correspondents inside Gaza have reported frequent incidents in which Israeli troops have opened fire on crowds of desperate Palestinian civilians approaching GHF centers seeking food.

Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 25, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israel has accused Hamas of attacking Gazan aid seekers and falsifying death tolls, but has also acknowledged that Palestinian civilians have been killed near GHF aid distribution sites. The IDF says troops have been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned.”

Witkoff: No ‘perfect news’ to share on ceasefire-hostage talks

Hamas’s vow to retain its arsenal came four days after an unprecedented declaration by the entire Arab League, as well as dozens of other countries, urging the terror group to disarm and condemning its onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Witkoff appeared to allude to the declaration when he told hostage families during a visit to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday that “some Arab countries are demanding that Hamas disarm,” according to Hebrew media accounts of his comments.

“Hamas said that it is ready to demilitarize,” Witkoff reportedly said.

At the same time, he told the hostage families that he has no “perfect news” to share with them about the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks, which have stalled for over a week following the US and Israel’s withdrawal of their negotiators from Doha.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks to hostages’ families at Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, August 2, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

“I wish I had perfect news for you, but it’s a super-complicated situation and I don’t have perfect news for you,” said Witkoff, according to audio from the meeting published by Channel 12. “Do I believe we are going to be successful here ultimately? I do, for a lot of reasons and some of those I can’t discuss right now.”

Witkoff also said that US President Donald Trump was now seeking a comprehensive deal to end the war and bring all the hostages home, echoing a senior Israeli official who had told reporters Thursday that “there will be no more partial deals” with Hamas.

In the audio published by Channel 12, Witkoff could be heard saying: “No piecemeal deals… that doesn’t work.” He also reportedly called negotiations with Hamas frustrating, accusing the terror group of failing to stand by its word.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for repeatedly presenting proposals that would release only some of the remaining 50 hostages, 28 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF.

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You appreciate our journalism

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

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Hamas on Saturday said it would not disarm “as long as the occupation exists,” denying reported remarks to the contrary by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and blasting him for visiting an aid site run by the controversial, US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue its violent struggle, saying its right to do so was guaranteed by international law until Palestinians’ “national rights” were realized, “foremost among them… the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty and Jerusalem as its capital.”

The terror group also assailed Witkoff’s visit to the GHF amid reports of soaring hunger in Gaza, and that hundreds of Palestinian aid seekers have been killed near the agency’s four distribution sites in the south and center of the enclave since they started operating in mid-May.

“The American administration is a full partner in the crime of starvation and genocide,” said Hamas. It added that Witkoff’s visit was “nothing more than a pre-arranged theatrical performance” to provide Israel with “political cover for managing starvation and continuing the systematic killing of children and unarmed civilians from our people.”

The terror group called on the US “to bear its historical responsibility by lifting the cover from the crime of the century in Gaza and moving toward a ceasefire agreement that leads to ending the aggression.”

Israel has vociferously denied the claim it is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians and accusing Hamas of using civilians and human shields. Jerusalem has also rejected as Hamas propaganda allegations that it is purposely starving the territory, and accuses the terror group of hijacking UN aid deliveries.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center) tour a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site on August 1, 2025. (Steve Witkoff/X)

GHF, which seeks to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, launched its operations in May, sidelining the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade it had imposed on Gaza.

Other humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, saying its distribution plan puts aid-seekers in danger. Since the group began operating in Gaza, Hamas’s civil defense agency and foreign correspondents inside Gaza have reported frequent incidents in which Israeli troops have opened fire on crowds of desperate Palestinian civilians approaching GHF centers seeking food.

Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 25, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israel has accused Hamas of attacking Gazan aid seekers and falsifying death tolls, but has also acknowledged that Palestinian civilians have been killed near GHF aid distribution sites. The IDF says troops have been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned.”

Witkoff: No ‘perfect news’ to share on ceasefire-hostage talks

Hamas’s vow to retain its arsenal came four days after an unprecedented declaration by the entire Arab League, as well as dozens of other countries, urging the terror group to disarm and condemning its onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Witkoff appeared to allude to the declaration when he told hostage families during a visit to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday that “some Arab countries are demanding that Hamas disarm,” according to Hebrew media accounts of his comments.

“Hamas said that it is ready to demilitarize,” Witkoff reportedly said.

At the same time, he told the hostage families that he has no “perfect news” to share with them about the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks, which have stalled for over a week following the US and Israel’s withdrawal of their negotiators from Doha.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks to hostages’ families at Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, August 2, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

“I wish I had perfect news for you, but it’s a super-complicated situation and I don’t have perfect news for you,” said Witkoff, according to audio from the meeting published by Channel 12. “Do I believe we are going to be successful here ultimately? I do, for a lot of reasons and some of those I can’t discuss right now.”

Witkoff also said that US President Donald Trump was now seeking a comprehensive deal to end the war and bring all the hostages home, echoing a senior Israeli official who had told reporters Thursday that “there will be no more partial deals” with Hamas.

In the audio published by Channel 12, Witkoff could be heard saying: “No piecemeal deals… that doesn’t work.” He also reportedly called negotiations with Hamas frustrating, accusing the terror group of failing to stand by its word.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for repeatedly presenting proposals that would release only some of the remaining 50 hostages, 28 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF.

Is The Times of Israel important to you?

Yes, I’ll give

Yes, I’ll give

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this

You appreciate our journalism

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

Join Our Community

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Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this