Switzerland dispatched Federal President Karin Keller-Sutter to dissuade Trump from imposing high punitive tariffs. But this all went completely pear shaped.
After an unsuccessful phone call, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter decided to personally dissuade US President Donald Trump from his decision on US punitive Swiss tariffs in Washington.
However, as today’s meetings in the US capital show, Keller-Sutter and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin did not even mange to make it to the White House.
Deal on F-35 fighter jets extended?
The president had to settle for a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is far below her rank. However, he cannot even comment on punitive tariffs, as this is not within his remit.
The aim of the trip was actually to make the US a more attractive offer before the 39 percent US punitive tariffs come into force tomorrow, Thursday, as reported by muula.ch.
However, neither the Federal Council as a whole nor the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) headed by State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda had disclosed exactly what this entailed.
After Rubio’s meeting with the Swiss delegation, the US State Department announced in two sentences that the two countries wanted to strengthen their cooperation in the defense sector.
But Keller-Sutter and Parmelin actually have no say in this matter.
People must approve price change
The Swiss president alone cannot simply accept the estimated additional costs of $USD 650 million to $USD 1.3 billion for the procurement of the F-35 fighter jets.
This requires a new referendum, as the Swiss people had only agreed to a fixed price of 6 billion Swiss francs.
SIF suddenly on board
It is also unclear what the meeting has brought the US in financial terms.
Keller-Sutter’s delegation also included Daniela Stoffel, head of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF), who actually has nothing to do with any punitive tariffs anyway, and has not been in the spotlight until now.
She may be tasked with arranging Swiss purchases of US government bonds through the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
Quite a lot of uncertainty
There were no press conferences, although this is usually the case. If the Swiss president had had something to announce, she would have immediately appeared before the press.
After all, Switzerland has the highest punitive tariffs of any western industrialized country. Why it came to this is unclear.
The negotiators had actually negotiated a deal with the US, but it did not suit Trump’s tastes.
Experts suspect that the view has prevailed in Washington that there is much more to be gained from Switzerland.
Waiting for a response
Ultimately, it became clear that this ill-advised trip by Keller-Sutter & Co. to the American capital had not yielded any tangible results.
The US would probably have been more impressed by a trip by the Swiss president to China.
An email from Keller-Sutter to Trump with an improved offer would probably have sufficed, and then Switzerland would have simply waited in line for a response from the Americans, just as it is doing now.
06.08.2025/kut./ena.
