Secretive Swiss commodity companies such as Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol & Co. are emerging from the shadows. They all play a role in global politics.
Copper, rare earths, cobalt, and oil determine the economic success of countries.
It is only logical that the major powers are increasingly interfering in the activities of commodity conglomerates.
Directly commissioned by Trump
The US recently carried out “inspections” of Swiss commodity traders and learned about their business models.
Armed with this knowledge, the US has now even assigned them special tasks in the conflict with Venezuela and the Panama Canal.
Geneva-based commodity companies Trafigura and Vitol are to provide logistics and marketing services for the sale of Venezuelan oil. Trafigura announced unexpectedly late on Friday evening.
These services would be provided on behalf of the US government, it added.
Global presence helps
However, those responsible assured everyone that the companies would comply with all ‘applicable’ sanctions.
They went on to explain that Trafigura was one of the few corporations in the world capable of efficiently carrying out an operation of this magnitude and complexity.
Trafigura’s global shipping fleet and worldwide logistics network would be a great advantage in this regard.
Commodity trader Vitol is already shipping the first load of naphtha from the US to Venezuela this weekend, according to media reports today. Naphtha is used to make the South American country’s thick crude oil more liquid and thus, more transportable.
Russians losing their influence
But it is not only in Venezuela that Swiss commodity companies play a leading role in world politics.
Gunvor was recently taken over by the Americans, as reported by muula.ch.
When the Russians wanted to sell some of their foreign assets from Lukoil to the Geneva-based commodities group, the US intervened and replaced the Russian-aligned management and even its owner, Torbjörn Törnqvist, without further ado.
Blackrock aims the Panama Canal
Switzerland is also playing a major role in the takeover battle for the Panama Canal. US asset manager Blackrock wants to buy the terminals from Chinese company CK Hutchison.
The US has a strategic interest in Panama because the canal has a significant impact on transport costs from its east to west coast.
And Geneva-based MSC Group is now set to hold the stirrups for Blackrock for a tidy 23 billion dollars.
When Swiss entrepreneurs recently visited US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, everything was set in motion in the presence of a plethora of billionaires from MSC, Richemont, Rolex, Mercuria & Co.
Time pressure creates catalyst to act
And sale is also the right keyword for Zug-based commodities giant Glencore. Competitor Rio Tinto wants to buy the company and is negotiating a merger, both companies announced again in brief statements amid market rumors.
However, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto must submit a viable takeover bid to the Zug-based commodities group by February 5, they added.
The merged company would have a market capitalization of over 250 billion dollars. In addition, they would become one of the most important global suppliers of copper, coal, aluminum, lithium, and nickel.
They run commodity mines all over the world, as muula.ch recently reported on their well-diversified portfolio.
UBS-CS merger sends regards
Swiss commodity companies therefore play a major role in energy transition and industrial production.
Previous merger talks between Glencore and Rio Tinto had failed because such mega-takeovers may have paralyzed the companies for years.
Yet, this may even be the strategy of some major powers. Simply carry out a merger, as in the case of the major banks Credit Suisse and UBS, and the competition is eliminated and the best employees quickly move on.
However, copper, rare earths, cobalt, and oil will determine the economic successes of entire economies even more in the future in our evolving world of artificial intelligence, computer chips, and high energy demand.
Jan. 11, 2026/kut./ena.
