Karin Keller-Sutter and Guy Parmelin met several business leaders before their meeting on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.Keystone
After the August 1st blow, the Confederation does not give up. Return from the United States, the Swiss delegation has met several heavy goods vehicles from the economy.
09.08.2025, 17:5609.08.2025, 20:43
The Swiss delegation which had made the trip to Washington is back after its interviews on customs duties in the United States. Negotiations are now carried out under the aegis of the government and the federal administration, indicates the State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO).
In reference to negotiations on customs surcharge of 39% imposed by the United States on the Confederation, the Seco wrote to Keystone-ATS:
“The federal administration has very close and regular exchanges at all levels with the Swiss economy. Such collaboration has always been the brand of Switzerland and is also worth it. ”
In addition to the president of the Confederation Karin Keller-Sutter, the Minister of Economy Guy Parmelin and the Secretary of State for International Financial Questions Daniela Stoffel, who left on Tuesday in Washington and returned to Switzerland on Tuesday after a express visit, Switzerland had delegated in the American capital a delegation of the Seco, led by her head of Hellene Budliger Artieda.
Meeting with economic circles
Several very high leaders of the Swiss economic world were also there. Before his meeting Wednesday with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ms. Keller-Sutter and her delegation had met Swiss business leaders, including Severin Schwan, president of Roche, as well as Alfred Gantner and Marcel Erni, founders of the Partners Group investment fund.
The group, who also had Daniel Jaeggi, president of the World Energy Merchant and Mercuria raw materials, discussed the tariff situation, according to a government source quoted during the week by Reuters. Other meetings with leaders of Swiss companies located in the United States had also been planned.
The blow
The Federal Council recognized its disappointment Thursday after the 39% surcharge imposed by Donald Trump on Swiss exports in the United States. However, he had promised to continue discussions with Washington in order to “lower this rate as quickly as possible”.
Questioned by BlickDemocrat deputy James McGovern, co-president of the Caucus of Friends of Switzerland at the United States Congress, recommended that the Swiss authorities do not hesitate to flatter Donald Trump. The American president is said to be sensitive to such an attitude, he said, denouncing the “insane” decision of Donald Trump and the “mobbing” he exerts on the Confederation.
Maintain dialogue
James McGovern did not participate in the meeting between parliamentarians from the two countries held on Friday in Geneva. This meeting, scheduled before Donald Trump’s announcement, has made it possible to thematize the issue of economic and commercial relations as well as new American customs rights, said the Swiss parliamentary association USA in a statement published on Saturday.
Friday, the national councilor Laurent Wehrli (PLR/VD) told Keystone-ATS:
“In the current context, it is important that all channels continue to speak to each other”
Even if the Federal Council is responsible for negotiations, parliamentarians “can support” dialogue, he added.
While the American administration operates “a little differently” from traditional diplomacy, you must try to use “levers, friends”, added its parliamentary colleague Damien Cottier on Saturday on RTS. This can be the case for members of the Congress, but also other influential personalities, such as great business leaders.
According to the press release, the meeting also made it possible to “reaffirm the historical links and the values that unite” the two countries. The discussion also focused on the role of International Geneva and the importance that Switzerland attaches to this multilateral pole.
Alain Berset comments
Questioned by SRF German radio on the sidelines of the Locarno Film Festival, Alain Berset, for his part, underlined the difficulty of predicting what will happen in difficult periods. It is therefore important to develop scenarios.
The secretary general of the Council of Europe said that he was not quite surprised. Donald Trump had already put the theme of customs duties at the agenda at the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2018. We must now just see reality.
Federal advisers are not elected only for periods of good weather, but they know that there are times difficult to spend. The important thing is to stay on the right track and get the most out of it, noted the Friborg. He said he was satisfied with the strong European solidarity he has found in the last two or three years – and Switzerland is also part of it. (ATS)
International news day and night
These wedding pranks hide a real problem
Video: watson
This could also interest you:
Since 2016, in Blten, in Haut-Valais, the movements have continued to increase over the years before the landslide has shaved the whole village.
Highlight signs of Blatten’s landslide (VS) were already visible since the space of the years before the disaster. As shown in a satellite image analysis of the European Space Agency (ESA), the slope of Petit Nesthorn was already moving in 2016.
