Bern (Switzerland) (AFP) – The Swiss government said Thursday it would pursue more talks with the United States after a last-gasp mission to Washington failed to stop a 39-percent tariff blow that businesses described as a “horror scenario”. The government held an emergency meeting after President Karin Keller-Sutter and Economy Minister Guy Parmelin returned home from their trip empty-handed but said it does not plan to retaliate for now.
Keller-Sutter said in a press conference that Swiss officials were still in Washington to hold talks that are crucial for industries ranging from watchmaking to industrial machines, cheese, and chocolate. “We want a rule-based relationship with the United States…but not at any price,” she said. She noted that it was hard to know how long the situation would last, as “the final decision rests with the US president”.
Trump blindsided the Swiss last week when he announced that the country would be hit by one of the highest tariffs among new duties on imports from dozens of economies that took effect on Thursday. The Swiss rate was higher than Trump’s previous threat of a 31-percent tariff. Keller-Sutter rushed to the US capital with a small delegation earlier this week to seek a friendlier levy, but she only secured a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who does not oversee tariff policy. After Wednesday’s meeting, Keller-Sutter spoke only of “a very friendly and open exchange on common issues”.
In a statement after its extraordinary meeting on Thursday, the Swiss government said it “remains firmly committed to pursuing discussions with the US with the aim of reducing these tariffs as swiftly as possible”. “At present, tariff countermeasures in response to the US tariff increases are not being considered, as they would impose additional costs on the Swiss economy – particularly through higher prices for imports from the United States,” it added. Parmelin said later that any retaliatory measures “would also have financial consequences for the Swiss economy”, adding that ratcheting trade tensions higher with the United States is not in Switzerland’s interest. “The best, I think, is that both parties find an acceptable solution.”
The tariff jeopardises entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese. Some politicians have suggested that football governing body FIFA’s Swiss president Gianni Infantino, who has struck up a friendship with Trump, should be recruited to help Switzerland. Infantino is “the right man for the situation”, Roland Rino Buechel, a lawmaker of the hard-right Swiss People’s Party, told SRF television. He said the FIFA boss is “the person in Switzerland with the best access to the American president”.
Swiss businesses worry that competitors in other wealthy economies will have an edge, with the European Union and Japan having negotiated a 15-percent tariff and Britain securing a rate of 10 percent. “The horror scenario materializes,” Swissmem, the association of the mechanical and electrical engineering industry, said in a statement. “If this horrendous tariff burden remains in place, it will mean the de facto death of the export business of the Swiss tech industry to the USA — in particular given the much lower tariffs for competitors in the EU and Japan.” The group urged the government to continue to negotiate with the United States, “even if the chances of success currently appear to be slim”.
Economiesuisse, the federation of Swiss businesses representing some 100,000 companies, warned that the tariffs “put thousands of jobs at serious risk”. Capital Economics, a London-based research group, said the tariffs could reduce Swiss GDP by 0.6 percent in the medium term. Trump justified his action by the fact that Switzerland has a trade surplus of tens of billions of dollars with the United States. Nearly 19 percent of Swiss goods exports went to the United States last year, according to customs data. Switzerland’s pharmaceutical industry, a major exporter, has been exempt so far, but Trump has announced plans for tariffs on that sector too. Switzerland has argued that the United States enjoys a significant services trade surplus and that most American industrial goods enter Switzerland tariff-free.
© 2024 AFP
