The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Patience key in Swiss-US tariff dispute: John Bolton

US duties: Bolton, Switzerland must hold and wait
US duties: Bolton, Switzerland must hold and wait Keystone-SDA

In the ongoing dispute over United States tariffs, Switzerland should grit its teeth and wait, according to former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Bolton, who served during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, gave his comments to the Blick newspaper.

“With counter-tariffs, you only punish your own people,” the 76-year-old explained. Bolton went on to point out that the duties sought by Trump are currently under judicial scrutiny.

“Many believe that before the end of the year a ruling could be issued that would invalidate them,” he said. “At that point Trump will have to start all over again.”

More

No-one can understand why Washington has imposed a 39% tariff on Swiss exports to the US. “The American trade bureaucracy, which normally negotiates one or two agreements a year, is completely overwhelmed. The Swiss tariffs were not discussed for even ten minutes,” Bolton added.

Already at the end of May, a federal court ruled that almost all of the duties sanctioned by Trump were illegal, including those directed at Switzerland. However, the US government immediately appealed the ruling.

To justify the tariffs, the Trump administration described trade deficits with other countries as a security risk, claiming a national emergency. The president used a 1977 law that had never before been applied to tariffs.

More

Debate
Hosted by: Giannis Mavris

Are you noticing or anticipating any changes in your life as a result of the tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump?

How do you think your life could be impacted by the US tariff policy? Let us know.

13 Likes
14 Comments
View the discussion

Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch

Popular Stories

News

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR