Zurich (AFP) – Switzerland’s economy minister Guy Parmelin was back in Washington for talks on Thursday, for the third time since the Alpine country was clobbered with huge tariffs. Vice President Parmelin was scheduled to meet with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, several Swiss media outlets reported, as Bern clings to hopes of reducing the whopping tariff rate.
US President Donald Trump shocked Switzerland in August when he announced 39-percent duties on imports of goods from the country, among the highest in his global tariff blitz. Since then, the wealthy European nation has been striving to negotiate a better tariff deal and has slashed its 2026 growth forecast as the tariffs weigh on its export-driven economy.
On Monday evening, Bloomberg News reported that Switzerland was close to an agreement on reducing tariffs to 15 percent — the same level as those applied to goods from the European Union, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The Swiss economy ministry told AFP that Parmelin was in Washington “to continue discussions,” but said it would not be providing further details.
In early August, Parmelin and Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, who is also the finance minister, made an emergency trip to Washington to try to sway the White House’s position, but returned empty-handed. Parmelin then made a second trip in September. Last week, the heads of six top Swiss firms, including the chiefs of watchmaker Rolex and luxury goods giant Richemont, met with US President Donald Trump to draw his attention to the toll his tariffs are taking on their companies.
The tariff rate jeopardizes entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese. The pharmaceutical industry, Switzerland’s largest export sector, could be living on borrowed time: medications are exempt from tariffs, but Trump regularly threatens to impose tariffs on them as well.
Besides their own tariff rate impacting the viability of exports to the US, Swiss businesses also worry that competitors in other wealthy economies will have an edge, with the neighboring EU and Japan having negotiated a 15-percent tariff, and Britain securing a rate of 10 percent.
© 2024 AFP
