ICE shooting, Fed probe, and withdrawal from international organisations

A person outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Tuesday. Police fired tear gas into the crowds. Keystone/Swissinfo

Welcome to our press review of events in the United States. Every Wednesday I look at how the Swiss media have reported and reacted to three major stories in the US – in politics, finance and science.

It was a where-to-begin situation this week: US involvement in Iran, Venezuela and Greenland was all making Swiss headlines. In the end I focused on Minneapolis, where an immigration officer shot and killed a woman in a car, resulting in ongoing protests and arrests. As one Swiss newspaper wrote, Minnesota shows where the division in American society comes from – and what it leads to.

A person being detained by federal agents on Tuesday near where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Massive protests in Minneapolis this week reflect outrage over the death of a 37-year-old woman shot dead in her car by an immigration officer. However, both camps are politicising the case irresponsibly, according to one Swiss newspaper.

“The deadly ICE operation in Minneapolis is the result of Trump’s merciless immigration policy,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) declared on Friday. “But the Democrats also contributed to the escalation.”

On January 7, Renee Good was fatally shot in the northern US city of Minneapolis by an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officer.

“The account of the incident by Democratic-led authorities in Minnesota and the Republican administration differs greatly,” Swiss public broadcaster SRF explained. “According to the authorities in Minnesota, the use of firearms was unjustified. A video from an eyewitness shows how the vehicle of the deceased turned away from the officer when he fired. But the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, claims that the officer acted in self-defence: the 37-year-old had driven towards him after a colleague had asked her to leave the car.”

“It’s not easy to categorise the incident,” the NZZ admitted. “Nevertheless, politicians and commentators on the left and right rushed to draw conclusions. In a hair-raising distortion of the facts, Donald Trump declared that the officer had been ‘run over’ by Renee Good. He had acted in self-defence, Trump said – ‘hard to believe he’s still alive’.”

“Trump is pursuing a ruthless policy of mass deportations,” the NZZ continued. “At the same time, the left contributed to making a violent clash inevitable. This is because part of the back story is that Democratic politicians have branded the fundamentally legitimate use of immigration authorities as a fascist threat – first and foremost the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, who called ICE a ‘modern Gestapo’.”

The NZZ said this rhetoric, “which doesn’t even shy away from Nazi comparisons, has strengthened left-wing activists in their belief that resistance is morally imperative”. The paper said it was still unclear why Renee Good parked her car across the road. “But if the impression that she was obstructing the work of the ICE authorities is confirmed, this is also part of the overall picture,” it said.

“Wednesday morning’s deadly incident is a culmination of many developments,” the NZZ concluded. “As if under a magnifying glass, the state [of Minnesota] shows where the division in American society comes from. But above all, what it leads to. Instead of pausing at this moment, both the Republicans and the Democrats see the tragedy as a means of deepening their dispute.”

• NZZ editorialExternal link (German, paywall)

• Coverage of the shootingExternal link – SRF (German)

• What is ICE?External link – RTS (French)

• Minneapolis sues the Trump administrationExternal link – Tribune de Genève (French)

A video of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell plays on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

On Tuesday global central bank chiefs from 11 institutions – including Martin Schlegel at the Swiss National Bank – issued a statement saying they “stand in full solidarity” with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The unprecedented show of support came after US authorities opened a criminal investigation into Powell.

“Pretty brave,” reckoned the Tages-Anzeiger. “Anyone who publicly supports Powell is taking a stand against Donald Trump – and making themselves a target.”

The Department of Justice is investigating whether Powell made false statements to Congress about the cost of a construction project in Washington.

Schlegel’s signature is not without risk, the paper explained. “Trump is vindictive.  Switzerland is under pressure anyway: a customs agreement has not yet been signed, and Washington has been watching Bern for years due to alleged currency manipulation. Trump could take the support for Powell personally and put Switzerland under pressure again.”

But Schlegel has done the right thing in taking a stand, the Tages-Anzeiger said. “The independence of the central bank from political institutions is a central principle of monetary policy. Economists agree that if the central bank is dependent on the government, it cannot combat inflation effectively. Numerous studies have shown that independence delivers better results,” it said. “By backing Jerome Powell, Martin Schlegel is not defending a person, but a principle – and therefore the very thing that makes monetary policy effective in a democracy.”

Also on Tuesday the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) welcomed Powell’s “remarkable” two-minute video, published on Sunday, in which he accuses Trump of using the judiciary against him personally because the Fed is not aligning its monetary policy with Trump’s wishes. “Trump has more to lose in the conflict than one might think,” the paper said.

“If the conflict between Trump and the Fed escalates – for example, if Powell is actually impeached and asked by the President to resign immediately – this could lead to severe turmoil on the currency and bond markets. The Fed could then lose control of investors’ inflation expectations, which would have a catastrophic impact on Trump’s plans to reduce the cost of living for Americans. Mortgages or car loans would become even more expensive than they are today. The Republicans can’t afford this shortly before the mid-term elections in November.”

• Coverage of probe into Jerome Powell – SRFExternal link, RTSExternal link, RSIExternal link (German, French, Italian)

• Tages-Anzeiger editorialExternal link (German, paywall)

• NZZ editorialExternal link (German, paywall)

• A chorus rises to protect the Fed from Donald TrumpExternal link – Tribune de Genève (French)

• Trump upsets markets with threat of Fed indictmentExternal link – Blick (German)

• Jerome Powell videoExternal link

The melting Morteratsch Glacier in southeastern Switzerland in October 2025. Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott

Last week Donald Trump signed a decree ordering his country’s withdrawal from 66 international organisations that are “contrary to the interests of the United States”. Particularly affected are treaties and committees concerning the climate.

Of the 66 organisations on the list, around half are linked to the United Nations, Swiss public radio RTS reported. “The most important is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the founding treaty of all other international climate agreements, concluded in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit,” it said.

The decree also orders the withdrawal from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which sets the standard for climate science, as well as from other organisations involved in protecting the planet, such as the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and UN Water.

RTS recalled that in September, at the UN General Assembly, Trump provoked strong reactions by attacking climate science, describing global warming as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and praising “clean, beautiful” coal.

Other organisations on the list include the UN Population Fund, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

“Trump has long expressed scepticism towards intergovernmental institutions, criticising their costs and questioning their effectiveness,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) noted. “The decision to withdraw from the organisations is in line with his ‘America first’ strategy.”

• Coverage of the withdrawal – SRFExternal link and the NZZExternal link (German), RTSExternal link (French)

• Statement from the White HouseExternal link with a list of the affected organisations

The next edition of ‘Swiss views of US news’ will be published on Wednesday, January 21. See you then!

If you have any comments or feedback, email [e-mail]

Stay informed with our weekly newsletter!

Are you looking for a simple way to stay updated on US-related news from a Swiss perspective?

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and receive concise summaries of the most important political, financial, and scientific stories in the United States, as reported by Switzerland’s leading media outlets – delivered straight to your inbox.

👉Sign up by entering your email address in the form below!