Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Switzerland is hot. A heatwave is dragging on and extreme temperatures could become more frequent in the years to come.
Switzerland also felt the heat when the Trump administration announced its intention to tax Swiss gold at 39%.
The United States will not be imposing tariffs on gold after all, President Donald Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social. The industry is relieved by this announcement.
After an official document classifying one-kilogram and 100-ounce gold bars as subject to customs duties caused a stir last week and sent the price of the precious metal to a record high, concerns have now subsided.
A 39% import duty on gold bars, as planned by the Trump administration on a large proportion of Swiss products, “would have dealt a lasting blow to the entire international physical gold trade, and the United States would not have done itself any favours”, says Christoph Wild, president of the Swiss Association of Manufacturers and Traders in Precious Metals (ASFCMP).
A substantial proportion of exports to the United States in the first half of 2025 were gold. According to specialists, this trade boosted Switzerland’s trade surplus with Washington. They now hope that removing gold exports from the trade balance will strengthen Switzerland’s negotiating position.
The Swiss government is examining the future traffic rules for automated driving, reports Blick.
As part of a project to be launched by the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) from January 2026, scientists will have to determine how to curb risky behaviour and what rules are needed to achieve this.
Watching a film, writing emails or even shaving while the car is driving itself? The rise of automated driving systems is increasingly raising the question of distractions inside vehicles and the trust we place in them.
Level 3 (“semi-automated”) is currently authorised in Switzerland: drivers can take their hands off the wheel on certain stretches of road but must be ready to intervene at any time. The FEDRO project will have to determine which activities other than driving could be permitted under certain conditions, depending on the degree of automation and the road context.
According to FEDRO, the emphasis will be on technical solutions capable of preventing – or at least complicating – any dangerous distraction. The authorities want to identify the “main sources of distraction” and propose “effective and applicable measures” without holding back innovation. Recommendations are expected to guide legislation and future control strategies.
The heatwave that has engulfed Switzerland over the past few days is set to continue and intensify. Record temperatures are not expected, but these heatwaves are likely to become increasingly frequent, according to MeteoSwiss.
Since Friday, the Lake Geneva region, Valais and Ticino have been suffocating in the heat. From today, several regions in German-speaking Switzerland will suffer the same fate.
Several meteorologists are drawing parallels with the scorching summer of 2003. That year, June and August were the hottest months since measurements began in 1864. Despite the persistence and intensity of this summer’s heat, it’s still too early to say whether this heatwave is really extraordinary in Switzerland.
However, we can expect more heatwaves. “Global warming is going to make these heatwaves much more frequent,” predicts Didier Ulrich, a meteorologist at MeteoSwiss.
“Ahhh, you’re a mother and you work 100%?” An American woman told the Tages-Anzeiger about her personal experience as a mother and top executive in Switzerland.
Annalisa Pawlosky moved to Switzerland at the height of the Covid pandemic to work at Google as a researcher in artificial intelligence. Since then, she has had two daughters and has been promoted. She works around 50 hours a week.
Pawlosky loves Switzerland and couldn’t imagine a better place to bring up her children. But she is also open about what bothers her: “Switzerland is dominated by a conservative culture. The idea that a good mother should sacrifice at least part of her career to bring up her children is very widespread.” In the US, on the other hand, society is organised in such a way as to make life easier for parents who work full-time.
She talks about this without passing judgement. The price to be paid by working mothers is high in each of these worlds, and fatigue is high everywhere, she says.
Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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