‘Switzerland should negotiate but not bend the knee to Donald Trump’

US President Donald Trump has shaken Switzerland with a threat of 31% tariffs on imports. In the hope of averting this, the Swiss government has launched a charm offensive. But is this the right strategy? Guests on Swissinfo’s Let's Talk webcast debated the issue.

Trump also has his sights set on Switzerland. He has threatened to slap 31% tariffs on Swiss exports to the United States. In response, the Swiss government’s executive body, the Federal Council, has launched a charm offensive. This appears to have paid off, as a declaration of intent on trade between the two countries looks set to be concluded.

Although the left wing had initially accused the Federal Council of kowtowing to Trump, Social Democrat parliamentarian Laurence Fehlmann Rielle, participating in Let’s Talk, acknowledged the wisdom of seeking to negotiate lower tariffs. The politician, who is a member of the parliament’s foreign policy committee, nonetheless cautioned: “President Trump always plays a power game. So we should not be too quick to bow to him.”

Daniel Cottier, meanwhile, defended the government’s actions. The centre-right Radical-Liberal parliamentarian, who is also the president of the Parliamentary Association Switzerland-USAExternal link, responded: “The Federal Council does not bow to anything. It has sought dialogue with the United States in order to reach an agreement, while highlighting Switzerland’s strengths in the process.” 

Switzerland may nonetheless make some concessions to win over Trump. One possibility would be lifting the tax on agricultural products. “This would spell the death of Swiss agriculture,” Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Didier Calame warned during the debate. A farmer by profession, he, too, is part of the parliament’s foreign policy committee.

Meanwhile, the Federal Council recently decided to delay plans to regulate social media, in a bid to ease tensions with Washington. This angered many parliamentarians, both left and right, who sent an open letterExternal link to the government under the aegis of the NGO AlgorithmWatch CH, accusing it of kowtowing “to Trump, Musk and their ilk”.

Cottier roundly refuted this interpretation. “The regulation is simply being postponed. It would have been misguided to introduce an irritant to the debate at a time when we are trying to negotiate.”

Should Switzerland turn to other partners?

Fehlmann Rielle believes that the US president’s unpredictability should spur Switzerland to speed up its rapprochement with the European Union (EU). “The priority now is finalising the agreement package with the EU. We would also like to see the Federal Council be more vocal in defending these agreements, in particular Radical-Liberal foreign minister Ignazio Cassis,” the Social Democrat parliamentarian said.

“We don’t hear much from him because he is working, instead of spending his time giving interviews,” retorted Cottier, defending his party’s minister. In Cottier’s view, the government should bolster relations with its three main trading partners, the EU, the United States and China. “This would help diversify the risks if one of them were doing less well at a given moment,” he said.

To this end, the Federal Council is planning to update its free trade agreements with China. As a farmer, Calame is opposed to this, since the aim of any deal would be gaining better access to the Chinese market in the agricultural sector. “This would create unfair competition for Swiss products,” he warned, especially as Switzerland has the strictest standards for animal welfare in livestock farming.

Will the Trump years be good for Switzerland?

In a recent interview with the Swiss daily BlickExternal link, former US ambassador to Switzerland Edward McMullen asserted that the Trump years would be very good for Switzerland. On Let’s Talk, Cottier said he did not want to make predictions, but he believed the Federal Council should bring about conditions for the two countries to work together to create jobs and wealth and ensure a good quality of life for the population of both countries. “If we build economic walls, it will be to the detriment of both Switzerland and the United States,” he cautioned.

Fehlmann Rielle expressed her concern. “Donald Trump seems to think he is all-powerful and can do whatever he wants. He acts on impulse.” The Geneva politician hopes the American people will react and bring the country back on track to a more stable and predictable situation.

Trump’s immigration policy is a source of anxiety for Swiss citizens living in the United States. Some are thinking of moving back to Switzerland, while others fear losing their residency rights. Pietro Gerosa, a Swiss national living in New York who took part in the debate remotely, has no plans to leave. “I do, however, have a lot of American friends who are thinking of moving to Europe, as they find it hard to accept the current situation,” he said.

Cottier believes that the American people should instead rally together in the United States to defend their democracy. “A society must want to protect its values. These cannot be imposed from the outside. Some things are surprising, even shocking, when seen from Europe, but it is not up to Switzerland to go and preach to the world,” the parliamentarian from Neuchâtel stressed.

Calame, meanwhile, noted that Trump has been elected for four years. “The American people have another three-and-a-half years to realise that perhaps they should not have re-elected Donald Trump. If they’re smart, in four years’ time they’ll vote in a more centrist, pragmatic president who can dialogue with others without it always being ‘America First’”.

Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam/sb