Disappointment: customs taxes: the 39% came in force this morning

This Thursday, August 7 at 6:01 am, the new 39% tax hitting Swiss exports has come into force. The Swiss delegation, led by the president of the Confederation Karin Keller-Sutter and the vice-president Guy Parliamin, obtained nothing concrete by going to Washington in order to influence Donald Trump on the height of the taxes.

According to the RTS, our two ministers took off on WaShington at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening to return to the country overnight. Their plane is to land in Bern this Thursday morning shortly after 7 am.

On Wednesday morning, the Swiss delegation met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during an exchange, that the president described “very good meeting, very friendly and open”, to a correspondent of the SRF. But, at the end of this meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, it was especially the disappointment that was read on the faces of the two federal advisers.

For Switzerland, the objective was to present in the United States “a more attractive offer, which makes it possible to reduce the amount of additional customs duties applied to Swiss exports, while taking into account the concerns of the United States”.

But the presentation of this “attractive offer”, whose content is not known, did not reach its goal of lowering this inequitable tax for Switzerland, or less obtaining a new period to negotiate.

From this Thursday, around 60% of products exported to the United States will be struck by the 39% tax. For the moment, the remaining 40% concerning pharmaceutical products are not part of it, but Donald Trump has promised to rage in this sector with taxes up to 250%.

The Federal Council will hold an extraordinary session in the early afternoon to take stock of the situation and will communicate at the end of it.

As for Donald Trump, he published a triumphant message on his social network: “It’s midnight! He was delighted (…) billions of dollars in customs duties surge in the United States. “