Switzerland’s president rushes to Washington in effort to avert steep US tariffs

GENEVA (AP) – Switzerland’s president and other top officials were traveling to Washington on Tuesday in a hastily arranged trip aimed at striking a deal with the Trump administration over steep U.S. tariffs that have cast a pall over Swiss industries like chocolates, machinery and watchmaking.

President Karin Keller-Sutter was leading the delegation after last week’s announcement that exports of Swiss goods to the U.S. will face a whopping 39% percent tariff starting Thursday.

That is over 2 1/2 times higher than the rate on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S. Many Swiss companies in industries including watchmaking and chocolates have expressed concern about the issue.

It’s also more than the 31% that Switzerland had been set to face when U.S. President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on products from dozens of countries in early April.

The Swiss government said the trip was “to facilitate meetings with the U.S. authorities at short notice and hold talks with a view to improving the tariff situation for Switzerland.”

Keller-Sutter, who also serves as Switzerland’s finance minister, has faced criticism in Swiss media over a last-ditch call with Trump before a U.S. deadline on tariffs expired Aug. 1. She was leading a team that included Economy Minister Guy Parmelin.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Trump alluded to the call, saying “the woman was nice, but she didn’t want to listen” and that he had told her: “We have a $41 billion deficit with you, Madame … and you want to pay 1% tariffs.”

“I said, ‘you’re not going to pay 1%,'” he added.

It was not immediately clear where that $41 billion figure came from. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States ran a $38.3 billion trade imbalance on goods last year with Switzerland.

Swiss officials have argued that American goods face virtually zero tariffs in Switzerland, and the Swiss government says the wealthy Alpine country is the sixth-biggest foreign investor in the United States and the leading investor in research and development.

Ivan Slatkine, the head of the Federation of Romandie Enterprises, which regroups companies in French-speaking Switzerland, told Le Temps newspaper that 39% tariffs amounted to a “hammer blow for the entire Swiss economy.” Some Swiss companies – like high-end watchmakers with little direct competition – might face less impact, but others in airplane parts, machines and mid-level watchmaking would be hit, he said.

“For all the companies that depend on the American market, it’s really bad news – in particular compared to rivals in the European Union, whose exports are taxed only at 15%,” he was quoted Tuesday as saying.

The trip comes a day after Switzerland’s executive branch, the Federal Council, held an extraordinary meeting and said it was “keen to pursue talks with the United States on the tariff situation,” the government statement Tuesday said.

After consulting with Swiss businesses, the council said it had developed “new approaches for its discussions” with U.S. officials and was looking ahead to continued negotiations.

“Switzerland enters this new phase ready to present a more attractive offer, taking U.S. concerns into account and seeking to ease the current tariff situation,” a council statement said Monday.

Under the U.S. announcements Friday, Swiss companies will now have one of the steepest export duties – only Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures, at 40-41%.