Switzerland says it will try to negotiate its way out of stiff United States tariffs, hours after US President Donald Trump’s administration shocked the European country by announcing plans to impose a 39-percent tariff rate on Swiss goods.
The Swiss government said on Friday that it was “disappointed” and would decide how to proceed after Trump unveiled the 39-percent rate, more than double the 15 percent being applied for most European Union imports into the US.
The new tariffs, which are set to go into effect on August 7, would prove painful for several key Swiss industries, including manufacturing and watchmaking.
The Swiss government said in a statement on social media that it remains in contact with US authorities and “still hopes to find a negotiated solution”.
“The Federal Council notes with great regret the intention of the US to unilaterally burden Swiss imports with considerable import duties despite the progress made in bilateral talks and Switzerland’s very constructive position,” it added.
The Trump administration unveiled a range of new tariffs on many US trading partners on Thursday, saying the move aimed to address a “continued lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships”.
Nearly 70 countries now face import duties that were due to come into force on Friday. But most will now begin on August 7, giving countries a few days to try to reach an agreement with Washington to stave off or reduce their respective tariff rate.
“Everyone had been focused on August 1 … and now there is a new deadline,” Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from the White House on Friday morning.
“The reason is so that there can be a little bit more time and breathing space to get some more deals done. There were a few that were very close but didn’t quite make the deadline, and so the White House [said] this will allow … for these final agreements to be worked out.”
Trump negotiated trade frameworks over the past few weeks with the EU, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines — allowing the US president to claim victories as other nations sought to limit his threat of charging even higher tariff rates.
He said on Thursday there were agreements with other countries, but he declined to name them.
Asked on Friday if countries were happy with the rates set by Trump, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, “A lot of them are.”
The new tariffs also include a 35-percent duty on many goods from Canada, 50 percent for Brazil, and 20 percent for Taiwan. Taiwan said its rate was “temporary” and it expected to reach a lower figure.
The Trump administration said it decided to impose 39-percent tariffs on Switzerland because of what it called the European country’s refusal to make “meaningful concessions” by dropping trade barriers.
“Switzerland, being one of the wealthiest, highest-income countries on Earth, cannot expect the United States to tolerate a one-sided trade relationship,” a White House official said on Friday.
Swissmem, a group representing the mechanical and electrical engineering industries, said it was “really stunned” by the US move. “It’s a massive shock for the export industry and for the whole country,” said Deputy Director Jean-Philippe Kohl.
“The tariffs are not based on any rational basis and are totally arbitrary … This tariff will hit Swiss industry very hard, especially as our competitors in the European Union, Britain and Japan have much lower tariffs.”
Stock market tumbles
But Trump’s new tariffs have created yet more uncertainty, with many details unclear.
Global stock markets stumbled on Friday, with Europe’s STOXX 600 down 1.8 percent on the day and 2.5 percent on the week, on track for its biggest weekly drop since Trump announced his first major wave of tariffs on April 2.
Wall Street also opened sharply lower on Friday.
Reporting from the New York Stock Exchange, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey explained that US markets were “definitely down” following the tariffs announcement, but the drop was not as bad as what was seen after the first round of tariffs in April.
“When the first round of tariffs were enacted, the market did drop substantially, but then clawed back a lot of the losses about a month later as deals were worked out. A lot of economists are saying that this time around, the market has priced in tariffs,” Saloomey said.
Still, she said, “the concern is still that the underlying fundamentals of the economy are under strain and the full weight of the tariffs” has yet to be seen.
