CHRISTOF FORSTER The expressions on the faces of the Federal Council delegation showed exactly how they felt about Donald Trump’s tariff hike. President of the Confederation Karin Keller-Sutter and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin informed the media in early April that the Federal Council would not take countermeasures. The day before, US President Donald Trump had announced an exorbitant 31 per cent tariff on imports from Switzerland in a media event conducted in a gameshow-like format in the Rose Garden, with pharmaceutical products exempted for the time being. The reason given was allegedly unfair trading practices and currency manipulation. This made the bitter pill all the harder for the Swiss to swallow: Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) were the hardest hit among the European countries in April. A rate of 20 per cent was applied to the European Union. This ran against the assumption in Switzerland that the US president was not particularly keen on the EU. Indeed, it prompted a rethink, as the Swiss were rather brutally disabused of their illusions of a special relationship. Switzerland had long considered itself on the right side of US foreign policy and had hoped to be spared punitive import duties. This belief was also based on Switzerland charging only negligible duties on US imports. There is a relatively high export surplus in the goods trade – mainly from pharma exports to the US. However, the thinking in Berne was that the trade in services also counts, and it comes out strongly in favour of the US. Swiss companies also invest heavily in the United States, with Switzerland coming in sixth place. Seen from that perspective, the duties against Switzerland seem “almost like an industrial accident”, to quote a nonplussed government representative addressing the media. A good understanding during the first term The relatively harmonious understanding between Berne and Washington during Trump’s first term also contributed to the positive sentiment. Just a few weeks before the tariff cold shower, business owner and SVP National Councillor Magdalena Martullo-Blocher claimed that Trump loved Switzerland. Switzerland would soon enter into a free trade agreement with the US. And Federal Councillor Albert Rösti commented to some secondary Trump and Switzerland: tariffs, discord, and rapprochement For a long time, Switzerland considered itself on the right side of US foreign policy. That made the hammer blow of Trump’s tariff hikes even harder. The Swiss government was shocked and disappointed in its “sister republic”. school pupils shortly before the US elections that he tended to favour Trump. A look back through history tells us that there is probably a lot more to this saga than an industrial accident. For a start there is Switzerland’s belief in a special relationship with the US, which the Swiss hold onto only to be disappointed time and again. The Swiss like this idea of being a “sister republic”, something Trump has referred to in the past. This sisterhood is indeed valid in terms of the almost parallel development of the two countries’ institutional history. When the US created a new constitution in 1776, they looked to Swiss thinkers for inspiration. When Switzerland subsequently The chart that the Swiss did not expect to see: Switzerland was among the countries hardest hit by punitive tariffs in the list presented by Donald Trump on 2 April 2025. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / July 2025 / No.3 14 Economy
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