Explainer: Will Swiss supermarkets be inundated with cheap, hormone-filled beef after US tariff deal?

It is estimated that anywhere between two-thirds to 90% of American beef cattle raised conventionally are given hormone implants or fed growth regulators at the feedlot. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

The US has reduced tariffs on Swiss exports from 39% to 15% but has wrangled duty-free access for American meat, fish and chicken in return. Should Swiss consumers be worried?

The announcement on August 1 of a 39% tariff on all Swiss imports into the United States sent shockwaves through Switzerland. It came as a surprise, because the Swiss government was convinced it had negotiated down the 31% tariff announced on April 2 (United States President Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day) to a more manageable 10%.  Instead, Swiss exporters had to contend with the highest tariff rate in Europe.

As feared, the punitive 39% tariffs have also the Swiss agricultural sector, especially the cheese industry.  Accounting for about 11% of Swiss exports at 8,774 tonnes in 2024, the US is the second biggest market for Swiss cheese after Germany. Data for the month of August (when the tariff came into force) released in October shows a 55.4% drop in Swiss cheese exports to the US compared to a 9.4% drop in worldwide exports.

On Friday, the Swiss government announced that it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understandingExternal link with the US to reduce the tariff rate. Is this enough to offer relief to Swiss farmers and what does mean for the consumer?

How will the new deal affect Swiss cheese exports?

The announcement on November 14 to drop US tariffs from 39% to a “mere” 15% should come as a relief to Swiss dairy farmers that will be able to increase cheese exports to the US.

“A reduction of tariffs from 39% to 15% would certainly be a positive signal for the sector and could improve the competitiveness of our products,” says Désirée Stocker, spokesperson for Switzerland Cheese Marketing.  

However, Switzerland and the US are still working on the timing of the implementation of the new tariff rate, which means the Swiss cheese industry is not out of the woods yet.

“For us, the Christmas season is particularly important, and all orders for this period were still placed under the 39% tariff. Therefore, we will certainly need to wait until the first quarter before drawing any conclusions,” adds Stocker.

There are also worries that the reduced tariff rate will not be enough to convince Americans to stock Swiss cheese again. Before August, Gruyère cheese was subject to a 10% tariff rate and sold for an average of CHF50 ($60) a kilo in the US, more than twice what it costs in Switzerland. With a 39% tariff, it costs about CHF65 a kilo and a drop to a 15% tariff rate will still put it at CHF52.50 per kilo.

“We do not know what we will get, for example whether the 15% applies to all types of cheese and whether the Americans will still buy our cheese if it costs 15% more instead of 39% more,” says Sandra Helfenstein, spokesperson for the Swiss Farmers’ Union.

Reading the fine print

To obtain the reduced 15% tariff rate, Swiss companies had to promise to invest $200 billion in the US by the end of 2028. Switzerland also had to agree to reduce import tariffs on American industrial goods.

The Alpine nation’s highly protected agricultural sector was not spared either. Tariffs on American fish and other seafood will be reduced under the new arrangement. This is not such a big concession as this sector is not a sensitive one for the landlocked country that imported 825 tonnes of fish and seafood from the US in 2024.

However, meat, deemed a sensitive sector by the Swiss Farmers’ Union, is on the dealmaking table. According to the MoU, Switzerland will grant the US duty-free access for certain meat products. This concession will only apply to a fixed quota every year to ensue Switzerland is not flooded with American meat.  American farmers will be allowed to export 500 tonnes of beef (nearly double 2024 imports of 261 tonnes), 1,000 tonnes of bison meat and 1,500 tonnes of poultry to Switzerland duty free. 

At first glance, this does not seem like a big deal. After all domestic meat production can only meet about 80% of demand. The rest has to be imported mainly from Austria, Germany and Ireland for beef and Brazil for poultry.

“We have always imported beef from the United States, but only in small quantities. The quantity proposed in this deal is only slightly higher than the current quantity and therefore has no significant impact on domestic production or prices,” says Philippe Haeberli, a spokesperson for Proviande, the industry association for the Swiss meat sector.

To ensure domestic meat production is not affected, Switzerland regulates its meat imports through a quota system that is based on the number of animals slaughtered or auctioned domestically. Importers can bid for these quotas – that fall under a much lower tariff – via auctions on a web portal. Once these quotas are exhausted, importers must pay much higher tariff rates to import meat into Switzerland. It is not yet clear whether the concessions offered to the US fall into this basket or are on top of these low tariff quotas.

“Within the tariff quotas would be better. But this barrel is also slowly filling up, because the Federal Council has also made concessions to the Mercosur countries in the meat sector,” says Helfenstein of the Swiss Farmers’ Union.

To comply with its international agreements this could mean Switzerland will import more meat in 2026 possibly at the expense of domestic production or reduce imports from other countries in favour of the US.

Will hormone-injected beef and chlorinated chicken end up on dinner tables in Switzerland?

While the announcement lacks in detail it is clear is that the MoU allows for more American beef and chicken to enter Switzerland at a lower tariff rate. This includes beef from livestock treated with hormones to make them grow faster for slaughter, a practice banned in Switzerland.

It is estimated that anywhere between two-thirds to 90% of American beef cattle raised conventionally are given hormone implants or fed growth regulators at the feedlot. Such meat can be sold in Switzerland provided testing in Switzerland does not reveal any residue of hormones.

“American beef is not cheap at all and contains growth hormones, which must be clearly indicated on the sales label. We really do not believe that Swiss consumers will accept large quantities of this type of meat. On the contrary, most Swiss consumers demand high-quality Swiss meat and trust in the animal welfare guaranteed in Swiss meat production,” says Haeberli of Proviande.

Another issue with US imports cited by Proviande is the use of chemical baths containing chlorine or other chemicals to disinfect poultry carcasses after slaughter. This measure to protect consumers from pathogens like salmonella is approved by the US Department of Agriculture. However, the use of such chemical baths is banned in Switzerland and the European Union which rely instead on strict hygiene standards in all stages of the production process.

“If American chicken has been treated with chlorine or cattle with hormones and antibiotics, consumers must be informed of this before purchasing. We demand that the Federal Council not only require hormone-treated meat to be declared, as has been the case up to now, but also introduce a declaration requirement for chlorinated chicken,” says Sara Stalder of the Swiss Consumer Protection Association. 

According to Stalder, duty-free imports will have an impact on prices even though Swiss retailers currently insist they aren’t interested in stocking US imports.

“The restaurant and catering industry in particular, which accounts for 50% of meat consumption, has always been reluctant to declare prohibited production methods. A declaration is therefore non-negotiable,” she adds.

Edited by Virginie Mangin