{"id":98777,"date":"2025-10-16T05:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98777"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:25:00","slug":"has-the-clock-stopped-on-swiss-us-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98777","title":{"rendered":"Has the clock stopped on Swiss US trade?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 59 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

President Trump\u2019s tariffs have caused shock worldwide, with governments scrambling to find a deal to placate him. Some have managed: the UK got in first, with a sweet deal of just 10%, and the European Union crept in behind with 15%.<\/p>\n

Still more than they were subject to before Mr Trump\u2019s \u201cliberation day\u201d, but less than they had feared.<\/p>\n

Spare a thought then for Switzerland, which has been hit with punitive tariffs of 39%, and has so far been unable to persuade the US president to relent. Switzerland is not in the EU, so it can\u2019t benefit from the deal struck by Brussels.<\/p>\n

But Switzerland is regularly ranked as the world\u2019s most competitive and innovative economy. It is also one of the biggest investors in the US, creating, Swiss business leaders say, 400,000 jobs. That\u2019s why they find the US strategy not only outrageous, but also inexplicable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty-nine per cent tariffs: I was just shocked,\u201d says Jan Atteslander, director of international relations for the Swiss business federation Economiesuisse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unjustified; you can\u2019t explain why they are so high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 17% of Swiss exports go to the US<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the tariffs (the highest in Europe and the fourth-highest worldwide) were announced on 1 August, the Swiss government has been desperately trying to renegotiate with Washington, to no avail. The US president, it seems, has moved on to other matters.<\/p>\n

Around 17% of all Swiss exports go to the US, a market Switzerland cannot afford to lose overnight. Now that the tariffs have come into effect, the once muscular Swiss economy is suffering. Economic growth is shrinking, and job losses in key industries appear inevitable.<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s most lucrative exports to the US are pharmaceuticals. Ironically, they are not affected by the 39% tariffs, but might be subject to the 100% tariff on imported medicines that Trump recently threatened. That would be another huge blow.<\/p>\n

Another big Swiss exporter to the US is Switzerland\u2019s world-leading medical technology industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s precision mechanics, it has its roots in the watchmaking industry,\u201d explains Adrian Hunn, who is managing director of Swiss Medtech, the trade body representing the industry.<\/p>\n

The US is an important market for precision instrument firms like MPS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The town of Biel, the historic home of Swiss watchmaking and now the site of medical technology companies, demonstrates why there may be no winners, but only losers, from Washington\u2019s tariff policy.<\/p>\n

The company MPS (short for micro precision systems) produces medical instruments from aortic valve replacements to the tiniest of surgical drills, used in hip or knee replacements. Just the kind of things a wealthy country with an ageing, and increasingly overweight population \u2013 like the US \u2013 needs.<\/p>\n

So precise is the production process that even the machines used to produce the devices are made and specially calibrated locally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very integrated way of working,\u201d explains MPS\u2019s CEO Gilles Robert.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasuring equipment, milling tools, cutting liquids. That\u2019s why we call it an ecosystem that we have here in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Robert\u2019s proudest product is the engine for the world\u2019s only medically-registered artificial heart.<\/p>\n

Just 120 of them have been transplanted worldwide. \u201cIt\u2019s a pump that will pulse in both sides, to create beating in both chambers, and allow people currently waiting for a transplant, people with terminal heart deficiencies, to keep on living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Technology like this is very different from the car industry, where, often, the brakes are made in one country, the windscreen wipers or door handles in another, and everything is assembled in a third.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Mr Robert is not convinced that Trump\u2019s stated strategy of moving production to the US could work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be extremely challenging, if not impossible, to separate the components from the actual product assembly,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think those types of skills would be extremely hard to find in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be \u201cextremely challenging\u201d to move production to the US, says Gilles Robert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trump has said the countries hit with tariffs will \u201ceat them\u201d. So can MPS absorb the 39%?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had the best price before the new tariffs came into effect,\u201d says Mr Robert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the leeway to give a discount to our customers, because the margins are already as low as they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, says Adrian Hunn of SwissMedTech, \u201cMedical devices will get more expensive for US patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he adds, probably for US taxpayers as well. \u201cCosts for hospitals and healthcare systems in the US in many cases are funded by public reimbursement programmes, and this means taxpayers bear the burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more worrying for patients, since some high precision medical devices are made only in Switzerland, is the possibility that Swiss companies will stop exporting to the US altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are companies that have very good products,\u201d says Jan Atteslander of Economiesuisse. \u201cAnd they have told us, we just stopped delivering, sorry guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Atteslander and Mr Hunn agree with the Swiss government\u2019s strategy of not retaliating to the US tariffs. Switzerland\u2019s David, the thinking goes, cannot realistically take on America\u2019s Goliath.<\/p>\n

But the Swiss are actively chasing other markets. A trade deal with India \u2013 \u201cthe fastest growing economy on the planet, 1.4 billion potential consumers,\u201d Mr Atteslander points out \u2013 came into force on 1 October.<\/p>\n

An agreement with the South American trade block Mercosur has also just been concluded, Switzerland\u2019s longstanding trade deal with China is being upgraded, and free trade with the EU, the market for 50% of all Swiss exports, remains intact.<\/p>\n

So, although the US tariffs are already damaging the Swiss economy, and some still cling to hope that Trump may change his mind, there is also a quiet confidence that Switzerland will, if it has to, weather this storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a successful export nation, you have to have resilience in your DNA,\u201d says Mr Atteslander.<\/p>\n

The more long-term damage may be to the traditionally good business relations between the two countries. <\/p>\n

In Switzerland, there is a real feeling of hurt. The US wasn\u2019t just an important market: the Swiss loved doing business there.<\/p>\n

Many thought they had found entrepreneurial soulmates, more oriented to the free market than their more regulated partners in the EU. Now, both Adrian Hunn of SwissMedTech and Gilles Robert of MPS have abandoned that notion \u2013 for now at least.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived six years in the US, so I was very close,\u201d says Mr Hunn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of friends there. So, this, it didn\u2019t change my view of America, but it did change my view, you know, of how the current administration in the US is acting globally, and treating allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI studied a year in the US,\u201d says Mr Robert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had an impact on me, on my way of looking at the world. How you can take risks, be an entrepreneur, and be positive about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he adds hopefully, \u201cEven though I\u2019m sad about this situation, we will overcome, we\u2019ll find solutions, and I\u2019m sure in the end reason will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\"Has“Thirty-nine per cent tariffs: I was just shocked,” says Jan Atteslander, director of international relations for the Swiss business federation Economiesuisse.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1910,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}