Summary
- Effective August 7, U.S. imposes 39% tariff on Swiss imports
- Swiss watchmakers could face significant price hikes or absorb costs, boosting pre-owned demand
- Part of Trump’s tiered overhaul: 10% baseline, 15% for pacts, Canada’s tariff now 35%
The White House has just issued an executive order imposing a 39% ad valorem tariff on all imports from Switzerland, marking one of the steepest levies in President Trump’s reciprocal‐tariff regime. The measure went live as soon as a hard deadline for a bilateral trade deal with Switzerland expired, with the administration pointing to a $38 billion U.S. goods-trade deficit as justification. The 39% rate notably exceeds the 15% tariffs granted to partners like the European Union, Japan and South Korea, which had struck preliminary agreements before the August cutoff.
Switzerland’s storied watch industry, responsible for over $6 billion in exports to the U.S. last year, now faces a critical crossroads. Notable watch Maisons such as Rolex must choose between swallowing the extra cost or passing it directly onto American consumers — a decision that’s already nudging some retail prices up by as much as 15%. Independent ateliers that have been carving out their niche in the U.S. will feel the squeeze most, potentially driving collectors toward pre-owned platforms and secondary-market drops to sidestep the new surcharge.
Effective starting August 7,2025, this latest escalation builds on a broader tariff overhaul Trump began in April, when he announced a baseline 10% global rate and threatened a 31% levy on Switzerland if talks faltered. By late July, the administration formalized a tiered structure: a 10% minimum on all imports, 15% for partners with negotiated pacts and higher duties for countries with large U.S. deficits. Under this rubric, Canada has seen its tariff rise from 25% to 35% percent in a separate order aimed at drug-enforcement cooperation failures, while nations ranging from India (25%) to Syria (41%) now face elevated barriers across dozens of trading relationships.
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