Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
the US trade war has definitely not ended. Proposals for ‘creative solutions’ to get Switzerland out of the mess abound. Meanwhile, stock markets are tumbling.
Best wishes from Bern
Following the announcement of tariffs on the United States’ trading partners, European stock markets opened in free fall on Monday. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) plunged 6.6% to 10,854 points, its lowest level since the end of 2023.
To deal with the predicted economic earthquake, political and economic figures from all sides are putting forward their own proposals. While Switzerland’s former ambassador to Washington, Martin Dahinden, advises gradually building a relationship with the new US administration, the former head of the Swiss National Bank, Philipp Hildebrand, is proposing a re-discussion of the acquisition of American F-35 fighter jets.
Radical Liberal Party President Thierry Burkart is breaking the taboo of agricultural protectionism and calling, for example, for the abolition of customs duties on American oranges and the reduction of such duties on beef, “important products for the United States and less so for Switzerland”. The Swiss political left is banking instead on retaliatory measures such as those planned by the EU.
For the time being, the Federal Council believes it is too early to make concessions. It has just sent the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs to Washington for the second time in a few weeks. Helene Budliger Artieda’s mission is to try to secure a summit meeting for President Karin Keller Sutter and/or Economics Minister Guy Parmelin in April.
The Swiss people are set to vote again on the introduction of an electronic identity. The referendum committee announced in Bern on Monday that it had collected more than 60,000 signatures against the e-ID project.
The referendum committee was joined at the press conference by the Young Swiss People’s Party, the Federal Democratic Union and the anti-Covid movement Friends of the Constitution. It claimed to have more than 60,000 signatures. The speakers criticised the project for being undemocratic, useless and even dangerous for citizens.
An initial proposal was rejected at the ballot box in 2021. The Federal Council is back at it again. Free and optional, the new e-ID should make certain administrative procedures easier. It is eagerly awaited by the Swiss diaspora, for whom it will simplify access to many official documents, and should come into force in 2026.
Between 2018 and 2024, reports of abuse or neglect in crèches almost tripled in French-speaking Switzerland. In the canton of Vaud, more than 50% of these reports concerned cases of abuse. The remainder related to childcare conditions and failure to comply with safety and supervision rules.
A major problem is the failure to comply with the regulations on staffing levels. There are not enough staff, and sometimes not enough trained staff, for the number of children being looked after. The attrition rate in the profession is 30% per year, three times higher than in other professions. This represents an additional risk to children’s safety.
As far as parents are concerned, the testimonies gathered by RTS’s Mise au Point programme reveal a feeling of powerlessness. Worse still, the lack of crèche places discourages some parents from reporting problems, for fear of losing their place and of not finding an alternative solution, particularly for single mothers.
The world record for the largest raclette was broken on Saturday in Martigny, Valais. The organisers of the stunt succeeded in bringing 4,893 cheese lovers.
In March 2025, the second edition of the largest ‘raclonette’ attracted 2,522 guests in Saint-Étienne, France. “We couldn’t leave the world record for the biggest raclette to the French. But above all, we wanted to showcase raclette as part of our cultural heritage,” said Samuel Bonvin, the director of myexpo, which organised the event.
To serve the thousands of people in attendance, no fewer than 361 racleurs were mobilised, including FC Sion president Christian Constantin and former World Cup skier William Besse.
For reasons of budget (CHF15,000 to be advanced) and planning, the organisers did not invite representatives of the Guinness Book to validate their result. “We know we’re the best and that’s good enough for us,” concluded Eddy Baillifard, the ambassador of Valais PDO raclette.
Translated from French using DeepL/ac
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