The US plans to buy $10 million worth of Swiss cheese – just not from Switzerland

Ohio and Wisconsin and the top producers of Swiss cheese in the US. Keystone / AP

US tariffs are being used to procure Swiss cheese produced by American farmers under a special provision to absorb surplus production and protect rural jobs.

On February 19, United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) intention to purchase up to $263 million (CHF208 million) in dairy and other agricultural products from American farmers. The produce is destined for food banks for the needy or school lunches for underprivileged children, but the main intended beneficiaries are American farmers.

“By turning harvests into meals, we are not only stabilising farm income and protecting rural jobs – we are nourishing our nation and supporting the farmers who feed America. Under President Trump’s leadership, these investments strengthen the food supply, sustain rural communities, and reinforce agriculture as a cornerstone of economic resilience,” said Rollins in a press releaseExternal link.

Tucked away on the USDA food shopping list is an unexpected item: Swiss cheese. The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service plans to buy $10 million worth of it (about 11% of the value of Swiss cheese exports to the US) from American farmers.

The American Swiss cheese will be purchased by the USDA under section 32 of the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1935 that channels 30% of customs tariffs towards encouraging domestic consumption of farm products, especially surplus production. Farm bankruptcies in the United States increased by 46% in 2025 compared to the year before. The Trump administration’s tariffs have been blamed for rising costs of farm inputs like fertiliser. Fertiliser prices have increased by up to $100 a tonne since the tariffs were introduced, with the war against Iran likely to hike costs even further.

Generic name in the US

Any cheese produced in the US can claim to be Swiss cheese if it meets USDA standardsExternal link. The cheese should have holes or eyes developed throughout the cheese by microbiological activity, contain no more than 41% of moisture and no less than 43% of milkfat solids, and not be less than 60 days old. US-made Swiss cheese (also known as Emmentaler cheese) is classified into three quality grades of A, B and C. The cheese sells for between $15-20 per kilo in the US, compared to about $60 for Gruyere cheese imported from Switzerland.

The American state of Ohio is by far the top producer of Swiss cheese in the US, accounting for 146.2 million pounds, or 66.3 million kilogrammes in 2024 (about five times the amount of Emmentaler cheese produced in Switzerland), followed by Wisconsin at 15.4 million pounds.

“Swiss cheese certainly has a devoted following in Wisconsin, thanks to our large population with Swiss heritage. It’s also a key part of our thriving specialty cheese industry,” Grace Atherton, communications director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, told Swissinfo by email.

Baby Swiss is an American variety of Swiss cheese developed in Ohio by the Guggisberg Cheese Company founded in 1950 by Swiss immigrant Alfred Guggisberg. Keystone / AP

Despite its name, the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association also represents Swiss cheesemakers from other US states. Atherton is convinced that the USDA’s decision to procure $10 million of Swiss cheese will benefit the entire American dairy industry.

“For our members in states with significant Swiss cheese production, like Ohio, this news is especially welcome. We believe a rising tide lifts all ships, and that more dairy products purchased means a stronger, more resilient dairy industry for all,” she said.

Legal and political setbacks

The decoupling of Swiss cheese from Switzerland can be traced back to two major legal blows in 2023 that weakened its standing abroad. Cheesemakers from the region around the town of Gruyères in western Switzerland had tried to register the term Gruyère in the US as a certified brand. After being denied an application for trademark protection, they filed a complaint in the state of Virginia, losing in the first instance in early 2022.

In March 2023, the Virginia-based US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the decision, arguing that the US doesn’t have the same protections as in Europe on the name of food products.

“Cheese – regardless of its location of production – has been labelled and sold as Gruyere in America for decades,” the court said. This concerns cheese produced in Wisconsin or as far away as the Netherlands, Germany or Austria, the court added.

A couple of months, later the Swiss cheese brand was further weakened by a decision in the European Union. Emmentaler Switzerland lost its appeal to trademark Emmentaler cheese in the EU. In May 2023, the General Court of the EU upheld that consumers in the EU perceive Emmentaler as a type of cheese and not as an indication of the geographical origin.

The final blow was the rejection of a motion in the Swiss parliament to enshrine the protection of Swiss food products like Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese in all future trade agreements. Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, a farmer himself, warned that imposing the trademark in deals would restrict Switzerland’s room for manoeuvre in terms of foreign trade and could even prevent the conclusion of new agreements.

The parliamentary motion was accepted in the House of Representatives in 2023 but rejected by the Senate in 2024. The Senate proposed a softer alternative motion that encourages the Swiss government to continue its current efforts to protect Swiss products within the limits of available financial and human resources.

Impact on the Swiss cheese industry

“In general, it is important to note that the term ‘Swiss cheese’ in this context does not refer to cheese originating from Switzerland. This is historically rooted and has become an established generic term in the Anglo-Saxon market. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that,” said Désirée Stocker of Switzerland Cheese Marketing.

The lack of legal and political backing to enforce protected geographical designation for Swiss cheeses abroad has consequences. In 2024, the production of Swiss cheese in the US reached an all-time high of 360 million pounds, an increase of 7% compared to 2023.

US tariffs introduced in August 2025 have made the situation more dire. Swiss cheese exports to the US fell by about 20% last year, compared to an overall 11% drop in US cheese imports, suggesting that Switzerland is hit harder than average.

Limited options

Geographical protection of Swiss cheeses is guaranteed in around 60 countries that have signed the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The US is not a signatory, meaning it has no obligation to respect the geographical identity of products.

The Swiss government was quite vague in its response to a parliamentary questionExternal link filed in December 2025 on how it will handle the thorny issue of protecting Swiss cheese identity if a legally binding trade agreement was signed with the US. All that was promised was to raise the issue of Swiss cheese identity if the topic came up in trade negotiations.

For now, the emphasis is on promoting the Swiss-made cheese brand rather than protecting it through legal or political action. When contacted by Swissinfo, the Federal Office of Agriculture (FOAG) said it was supporting Swiss cheesemakers to the extent possible within the limits of the law.

“Given this difficult situation, the FOAG provided approximately CHF800,000 (a little over $1 million) in additional financial assistance last year for the marketing and export of cheese, in order to mitigate the negative effects of US tariffs and exchange rate fluctuations,” said a spokesperson.

Edited by Virginie Mangin/gw