Swiss president rushes to DC for crunch talks with Trump after shocking 39% tariff

That rate is over 2 1/2 times higher than the one on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S

President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on ducts 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 imving 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

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 re and development. “It’s hard to negotiate when you’re dealing with someone as unpredictable as Donald Trump,” said Ivan Slatkine, head of the Federation of Romandie Enterprises, which groups companies in French-speaking Switzerland

He expressed concern that Swiss goods could become less competitive to rival ducts from the neighboring EU. “We had a (Swiss) government that gave the impression the deal was done, it only awaited a signature from the president,” he said by phone. “We have the impression that we were punished, but we don’t know why.” Switzerland’s powerful pharmaceutical industry — which mised tens of billions of investments in the United States in recent months amid the tariff worries — is exempt from the 39% rate

But Slatkine said the steep tariff level could be aimed to send Switzerland’s Big Pharma — epitomized by Roche and Novartis — a message that it too could come under pressure

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 es, the council said it had developed “new apaches 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

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