Swiss See ‘Good Chance’ for Lasting 15% Tariff Deal With US

(Bloomberg) — There is a “good chance” Switzerland will secure a lasting trade deal with the US at 15% tariff rates, according to the country’s top trade diplomat.

“A level playing field is the ideal scenario for us,” Helene Budliger Artieda, director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said in a conversation in Zurich with Bloomberg News Deputy Editor-in-Chief Reto Gregori. Swiss companies “do care about the number, but they almost now nearly care more about the predictability and the stability of the number,” she said.

Switzerland is in a delicate phase of negotiations with the US as it seeks to secure a permanent deal to provide exporters with a more predictable trading landscape.

US President Donald Trump stunned the country last August when he imposed 39% tariffs on its goods, the highest on any western nation, after a telephone call with his then counterpart in Bern went awry. Three months later, in November, Swiss officials managed to secure a preliminary framework deal that would cap the levies on exports at 15%, on par with other European Union nations.

The Trump administration agreed to cut tariffs to that level in return for access to duty-free import quotas for American meat, easing imports of some other agricultural goods and a $200 billion investment pledge from Swiss companies.

Even so, Washington opened a probe in March under Section 301 of the US Trade Act to determine whether Switzerland has any policies that discriminate against America.

In April, Budliger Artieda wrote to US counterparts in April to offer reassurance that Switzerland doesn’t engage in “interventions that create or maintain artificially high production capacities, nor imposing a burden on US commerce.” She urged the administration not to apply further unilateral measures.

Budliger Artieda said she’s not sure what Switzerland could have done differently in negotiations with the US in the run-up to Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff shock.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said on Wednesday evening. “I see what others did differently but that’s just not Swiss. We don’t play tricks or make promises” that can’t be kept, she said. “We say what we do.”

Mar-a-Lago

Switzerland’s rotating one-year presidency means it’s harder for the president to build up a long-term rapport with Trump, she said.

“The president is not there for 10 years,” she said. “To go to Mar-a-Lago, that’s just not the Swiss thing” she said referencing Trump’s Florida base.

Budliger Artieda’s role at the helm of SECO makes her one of Switzerland’s most influential public officials. The government office oversees labor policy and economic forecasts, and markets Switzerland as a business location while also handling hot-button issues like trade and sanctions enforcement.

Starting out in the foreign service, Budliger Artieda went on to serve as ambassador to Thailand and South Africa. Economy minister Guy Parmelin, now Switzerland’s president, sought to capitalize on her skills at diplomacy and networking when negotiating with the Trump administration, a process that threw her into the global spotlight.

When Swiss executives took the country’s plea for a trade deal directly to the White House last year, Budliger Artieda pulled strings to make sure US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attended the meeting, according to people familiar with the matter. That gave the Swiss an ally in the Oval Office, as Greer had been more open to Switzerland’s approach than Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

The country’s success in securing a preliminary deal capping tariffs in November was a direct outcome of that gathering.

UBS

A steadfast advocate of light-touch regulation in favor of Switzerland as a business location, Budliger Artieda doesn’t shirk from speaking out on occasion.

In the midst of the government’s push to make UBS Group AG hold more capital, as ministers stressed how they were unmoved by the bank’s veiled threat to leave the country, Budliger Artieda has taken a more emotive approach.

“I still love UBS,” she said on Wednesday, echoing remarks she’d made in November to Bloomberg Television. “But that’s not the thing that matters. It’s now in the hands of the Swiss parliament and they will decide.”

UBS has already enough capital to meet new requirements proposed by the Swiss government, the Swiss National Bank said earlier this month. The central bank supports that push and observed that the bank’s $9 billion reserves at its Swiss unit will suffice to satisfy the planned change.

–With assistance from Bastian Benrath-Wright and Allegra Catelli.

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