Swiss public sceptical over US tariff deal: survey

Survey shows public scepticism about customs deal Keystone-SDA

More than two-thirds of Swiss people have misgivings over the recent tariff deal struck with the United States, a survey suggests.

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The survey, commissioned by the Blick newspaper, found 69% of respondents opposed to the deal.

Just under a third of Swiss respondents would be in favour of the customs deal, according Blick.

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The opinion research institute Sotomo conducted the survey on behalf of the newspaper at the end of November and interviewed around 9,300 people. In mid-November, Switzerland and the US signed a joint declaration of intent to reduce US tariffs on most Swiss products from 39% to 15%.

Concessions doubts

Swiss concessions in the memorandum of understanding were not well received by the majority of respondents. The waiver of restrictions on the flow of data to the US went too far for 80% of respondents.

Promises such as not introducing a digital tax, the duty-free import of limited quantities of meat from the US, the investment of CHF200 billion by Swiss companies in the US and the authorisation of US pick-up trucks in Switzerland also met with little acceptance.

Greater cooperation with the US on sanctions against third parties faced less opposition. However, according to the survey, this project also went too far for 55% of respondents.

Little optimism

Confidence in the US government is clearly not too high among participants. When asked whether they expect the US government to permanently reduce tariffs to 15%, supporters on the left were particularly sceptical. As many as 71% of Green Party supporters answered this question with “no” or “rather no”.

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A majority of centre-left supporters also do not expect a permanent reduction, as a graphic published by Blick showed. Radical party and Swiss People’s Party supporters were more confident, with the majority of them answering “yes” or “rather yes” to the question.

Referendum possible

Economics minister Guy Parmelin had rejected criticism that Switzerland had made too many concessions for the agreement. So far there is only a declaration of intent. “Now we have to negotiate,” he told Swiuss public broadcaster SRF.

Switzerland could also demand certain things. For example, it could say that it wants more exemptions from customs duties. This will all be part of future negotiations.

Whether the Swiss electorate will decide on an agreement with the US remains to be seen. The declaration of intent should first lead to a binding agreement. This was stated by Helene Budliger Artieda, State Secretary for Economic Affairs, in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper.

Parliament will decide on this after the negotiations. “A referendum will also be possible, which would give the people the final say,” she said.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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