Switzerland The President and other top officials traveled to Washington on Tuesday in a hastily arranged trip to conclude a contract with the Trump administration for steeper US tariffs that have made a pall over the Swiss industries such as chocolates, machines and watchmakers.
President Karin Keller-Sutter led the delegation after the announcement of the past week that the exports of Swiss goods are suspended to the United States. a whopping 39 %% tariff From Thursday – a step that surprised many Swiss economic leaders.
This rate is over 2 1/2 times higher than that European Union Goods that are exported to the USA and are almost four times higher than with British exports to the USA
It is also more than the 31%that Switzerland was faced as US President Donald Trump Called his “liberation day tariffs” for products from dozens of countries in early April.
The Swiss government said that the trip was “the meetings with the US authorities at short notice and the discussions to improve the tariff situation for Switzerland”.
Keller Sotter, who also acts as Finance Minister in Switzerland, was exposed to Trump in the Swiss media in front of a US call Term for tariffs Expired on August 1st. She led a team in which the Minister of Economy Guy Parmelin belonged.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Trump alluded to the call and said: “The woman was nice, but she didn’t want to listen” and he had told her: “We have a 41 -billion dollar -deficit with you, Madame … and you want to pay 1% tariffs.”
“I said,” You won’t pay 1%, “he added.
It was not immediately clear where these 41 billion dollars came from. According to the US Census Bureau, the United States led Switzerland last year with an imbalance with 38.3 billion US dollars for goods.
Swiss officials have argued that American goods in Switzerland are practically zero tariffs, and the Swiss government says that the wealthy alpine country is the sixth largest foreign investor in the United States and the leading investor in research and development.
“It is difficult to negotiate if you have to do with someone who is as unpredictable as Donald Trump,” said Ivan Slatkine, head of the Federation of Romandie Enterprises, which grouped companies in French Switzerland. He was concerned that Swiss goods could become less competitive for competing products from the neighboring EU.
“We had a (Swiss) government that gave the impression that the deal was complete. It was only waiting for a signature of the president,” he said by phone. “We have the impression that we were punished, but we don’t know why.”
The mighty pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland – the promised umpteen billions of investments in the USA In the past few months, the tariff has been worried – from the 39% interest rate. But Slatkine said Novartis – A message that it could also come under pressure.
The trip is held one day after the executive department of Switzerland, the Federal Council, an extraordinary meeting and said that it is “interested in holding the talks with the United States about the tariff situation,” says the state declaration on Tuesday.
After advising Swiss companies, the Council said that it had developed “new approaches for his discussions” with US officials and searched for continued negotiations.
“Switzerland enters this new phase that is willing to present a more attractive offer. They take into account concerns and try to facilitate the current tariff situation,” says a statement by the council.
After the US announcements on Friday, Swiss companies now have one of the steepest export tasks Nur Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures with 40-41%.
