Swiss brands, whether iconic as Victorinox try to adapt to the blow of customs duties at 39% at the entrance to the United States. In addition to price increases, they could consider transfers of activities elsewhere than in Switzerland.
ATS
Thermoplan, which exports its automated coffee machines to 84 countries, sends around a third of its products made exclusively to Switzerland to the United States. The country thus constitutes “a very important market”, which means that “the customs duties at 39% therefore affect us directly and significantly,” said its marketing manager Yves Zurmühle, with AWP.
“In the short term, this means increased pressure on prices and more complex negotiations with our customers,” he said. “In the medium and long term, this forces us to become more efficient, to examine alternative supply and production scenarios and to find, with our partners, means of ensuring our competitiveness”.
The company of 540 employees, based in Weggis, will not be able to pass all of the surcharge on its customers. In the United States, they are concerned about prices, delivery times and planning, while they are already facing American customs duties of 50% on Brazilian coffee.
If a complete move of production in the United States could only be envisaged in the last resort, “a partial relocation to Germany, where one of our subsidiaries is also found, seems much more realistic”, according to Mr. Zurmühle. The company must first study different scenarios and stresses that the level of training in Switzerland and the quality stamped with the white cross of its products are pillars of its “success”.
For its part, Nespresso, which produces in Switzerland the eponymous coffee capsules and those of the American brand Starbucks, abstains from any comments. The Nestlé subsidiary, which has three production sites in the cantons of Friborg and Vaud, totaled 3.2 billion francs in sales in the first half, with two -digit growth in North America.
Victorinox anticipates a heavy invoice
Schwytzois manufacturer of the famous Swiss knife Victorinox anticipated the customs shock by constituting stocks in the United States, its main export market. The additional costs are therefore “controllable” for the current year, but if they were to be maintained, “we are talking about an additional cost of up to $ 13 million per year from 2026,” calculated its general manager Carl Elsener, interviewed by the AWP agency by email.
For him, it is an “extraordinarily difficult situation”, while the group is already suffering from the strength of the franc. The surcharge aggravates the situation, “in particular for products such as professional knives, for which we are in direct competition with American and European manufacturers”. Victorinox achieves 13% of its turnover in the United States and even 18% of its sales of professional and cooking knives.
For the boss of the brand active also in watchmaking and luggage, “a total customs duties rate of around 44% on our products, combined with a dollar devaluation of 12% since the start of the year, is a massive challenge for our competitiveness, our margins and our strategy”. Victorinox renounces price increases in 2025 and discusses with his American team reports of “achievable” prices for next year.
The brand also studies “the possibilities of carrying out certain work stages, such as final cleaning and packaging of professional knives directly on site” in the United States. “A relocation of production abroad, especially for pocket knives, is not an option for us,” supported Mr. Elsener. “Our brand lives from its Swiss origin, its quality and its values”. He says he is attached to the Ibach site, while wanting to remain flexible “enough”.
As for the manufacturer of candy with Ricola plants, he recalls from AWP to have a global activity, served from Switzerland and “we will continue to stick to it”. The Laufon group, in the canton of Basel-Campagne, discusses price adjustments with its American customers, “will invest in innovations and will achieve cost savings in the supply chain when possible and judicious.”
