Comment: is Donald Trump still the friend of the UDC?

We remember, last fall, in the middle of the American presidential campaign between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the federal adviser Albert Rösti had displayed his preference for the first when he responded to students in Basel.

His position had been criticized from the angle of Swiss neutrality and the restraint that our magistrates must observe during elections abroad. Admittedly, Albert Rösti had added that he had a little “pain” with his “personality”.

In the process, the president of the UDC, the Schwytzois Marcel Dettling, had been more categorical. His remarks, cited by “La Tribune de Genève”, take an ironic turn today: “In Switzerland, we have always gotten better out when the Republicans were in power, it gave less pressure on Switzerland”. He also said: “I am for the Republicans – whether we are for or against Donald Trump does not play such a big role”.

The RTS had carried out a survey at the time showing that the base of the UDC supported 40% Donald Trump. “Le Temps” then noted a “growing admiration for the UDC bridgeheads for the Maga movement (Make America Great Again)”.

After the announcement of August 1 on Swiss products, the UDC did not officially react. But Trump has devilishly “Trumpeé”, to play an easy play on words. By capping taxes for the European Union and 39% for Switzerland at 15%, it brought a bad blow to the credibility of Swiss isolationism advocated by the Conservative Party.

This American blow of grace has already caused many comments saying that Switzerland must strengthen its links with the EU, a much more reliable partner. This situation, if she persisted, could give a decisive boost to pass the bilateral III before the people.

The UDC would have obviously dreamed of the rate of 10% (like the United Kingdom) which seems to have been proposed by the Swiss delegation and which would have given a beautiful competitive advantage on the EU. With four times more, it’s missed. The most astonishing reaction was that of the national advisor and banker Thomas Matter (UDC/ZH). He believes that this Trumpian disgrace is precisely due to the fact that we have not pampered our relations with the United States enough.

For the Zurichois, the lesson to be learned from this case is that the federal administration must now move away from the EU and orient itself more towards the United States and Asia. A reading opposed to that of the president of the National Finance Committee, the socialist Sarah Wyss, who said that: “the strategy of playing the best friends in the United States has proven to be fatal”.

For his part, Albert Rösti believes that Switzerland can insist and make other proposals to Trump, while slipping that this affair: “It is not the end of the world”. And he’s right, it’s not yet the end of the world. Switzerland knows how to be resilient and reposition itself. But in such an unstable world, both commercially and geopolitically, the coming months will not be easy.