Swiss minister: Bern to rework its ‘offer’ after US tariff blow

Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmline, from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. Keystone-SDA

For Guy Parmelin, the 39% tariffs on Swiss imports announced by Donald Trump were unexpected and “punishing”. The government in Bern will quickly consider how to rework its “offer” to the US.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“We are trying to understand what was lacking,” Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin told French-language public radio, RTS, on Saturday, following Donald Trump’s announcement of a 39% tariff rate on Swiss imports.

Parmelin was nevertheless confident that the decision could yet be reversed. “The Federal Council [Swiss government] can meet at any time, either in person or via teleconference, and will soon find out what problem led to the US president’s decision,” Parmelin said.

“We will do everything we can to demonstrate our goodwill and to rework our offer,” he added, noting that “the situation will be reviewed very soon” – presumably as early as Monday, given that time is short.

The government was hoping for a favorable outcome after a draft declaration of intent on tariffs was agreed with the US and approved by ministers on July 4. This document, the result of months of talks, was “negotiated in good faith,” Parmelin said.

For Trump, however, the trade deficit with Switzerland is too high. Starting on August 7, the US thus intends to apply unilateral additional tariffs of 39% on Swiss imports unless another agreement is reached.

In this regard, Parmelin said “a future offer will be prepared” and submitted to Washington; meanwhile both he and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter – who also holds the rotating Swiss presidency – are ready to travel overseas at any time “if requested.”

Among remaining options, Parmelin cited the possible purchase of liquefied natural gas, which the European Union (EU) has committed to importing in large quantities from the US in exchange for a more “moderate” tariff rate of 15%.

The minister also admitted that another “concession” could be to make further investments in the US. “But first we need to understand exactly what Washington expects,” he said.

When asked if he had been too optimistic during the negotiations, Parmelin said this might have been the case. “Three [ministerial] departments all thought the draft text was enough. Until the very end, we had no idea things would end with such a punishment.”

In particular, Parmelin fears that the Swiss economy could lose its competitive edge compared to the EU or the UK, and that this situation could “have extremely serious repercussions on the country’s growth”.

The government is also “in constant contact with representatives of the pharmaceutical sector [which the US is pressuring to lower prices]. These talks will now intensify in the coming days,” Parmelin said.

Trump has reportedly set a deadline of September 29 for global pharmaceutical companies, particularly Swiss ones, to lower the price of their products in the US. Swiss pharma exports are currently exempt from the 39% tariff rate.

What is your opinion? Join the debate:

Translated from Italian/French by DeepL/dos

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail].

News