Switzerland Rejects Report on Retroactive US Tariff Reductions

(Bloomberg) — The Swiss government rejected a report that a retroactive reduction of US tariffs has been agreed with Washington.

Citing a government statement, Reuters reported on Tuesday that levy cuts to 15% from 39% — which the two governments had agreed on Nov. 14 — will be backdated to take effect from that day. The report added that the statement later disappeared from the government website.

An economy ministry spokesperson told Bloomberg that the report is wrong and no such deal has been made with the US yet.

“The Reuters report is based on an erroneously published (and since withdrawn) reference to a federal administration website that is not yet active,” the ministry said in an email. “The federal administration has prepared content for various scenarios, but we cannot confirm any of them at this time.”

Almost a month after the trade deal was announced, Switzerland’s exporters are still waiting for the reduced surcharges to take effect. The ministry has said earlier that Switzerland is expecting the US to implement them within the first half of December.

(Updates with government statement in fourth paragraph.)

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