Swiss Planemaker Pilatus Pauses US Deliveries, Citing Tariffs

(Bloomberg) — Aircraft maker Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG has stopped deliveries to the US one day after the 39% tariff rate on Switzerland went into effect, as President Donald Trump’s surprise decision roils local manufacturers.

“Massive additional costs” and the resulting competitive disadvantages with US and European competitors are causing increasing uncertainty among customers, the maker of the PC-12 single-engine utility plane and PC-24 10-passenger business jet said in a statement. That led the company to temporarily interrupt its US business, the statement said.

Pilatus said it would work with clients to send the planes to other markets, “a project that involves considerable logistical and market-specific challenges.”

The Stans, Switzerland-based aircraft maker is among the country’s export-dependent firms that have been hit particularly hard by Trump’s tariffs. The US market makes up about 40% of Pilatus’ yearly orders.

Pilatus said it is accelerating construction of an already planned assembly plant in Sarasota, Florida, where it wants to build aircraft from start to finish. It already has subsidiaries in the US, including in Colorado, where final assembly work is carried out on Switzerland-manufactured planes.

Founded in 1939, the company employs more than 3,300 people globally, with annual sales of about 1.6 billion Swiss francs. It specializes in small aircraft used for general aviation, business travel and pilot training.

Other Swiss firms, such as medical device maker Ypsomed Holding AG, said they are moving some production abroad to make use of the lower 15% tariff rate Trump has imposed on the EU. The levies could cost Switzerland’s export-dependent economy tens of thousands of jobs, according to trade group Swissmem, and Bloomberg Economics has estimated a negative impact of 1% of GDP over the medium term, if pharmaceuticals are included.

Swiss leaders have so far refrained from implementing countermeasures to US tariffs, and said Thursday they instead want to focus on further talks to find a solution with the Trump administration.

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