Swiss government working with firms to overcome high US tariffs
The Swiss delegation that travelled to Washington has returned from talks on tariffs in the United States. The negotiations are now being conducted under the aegis of the government and the federal administration.
“The federal administration has very close and regular contacts with the Swiss economy at all levels. Such cooperation has always been a hallmark of Switzerland and is also true in this case,” the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) wrote to Keystone-SDA, referring to the negotiations on the 39% tariff rate imposed by the US on Swiss goods.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
In addition to Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin and State Secretary for International Financial Matters Daniela Stoffel, who left for Washington on Tuesday and returned to Switzerland on Thursday after an express visit, Switzerland had sent a SECO delegation to the Washington, led by its head Helene Budliger Artieda.
A number of top Swiss business leaders were also present. Prior to her meeting on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Keller-Sutter and her delegation met Swiss business leaders, including Chairman of Roche Severin Schwan and Alfred Gantner and Marcel Erni, founders of the Partners Group investment fund.
The group, which also included Daniel Jaeggi, chairman of global energy and commodities trader Mercuria, discussed the tariff situation, according to a government source quoted during the week by Reuters. Other meetings with heads of Swiss companies based in the US had also been scheduled.
What is your opinion? Join the debate:
External Content
Adapted from French by DeepL/ac
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.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
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.