After days of hand-wringing in Switzerland about why President Trump targeted the country with a punishingly high tariff, the Swiss government held an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday and announced it would present Washington with a “more attractive offer” to reduce the levy before it takes effect.
At the same time, the government said that it was preparing measures to shield Switzerland’s economy “in the event of temporary and unavoidable job losses caused by the new tariffs.” If the country doesn’t agree to a trade deal, Swiss goods will be hit with an eye-popping 39 percent tariff in the United States from August 7.
The Swiss were stunned on Friday when Mr. Trump set the tariff rate on goods from its longtime European ally at one of the highest levels in the world. The announcement set off a frenzied weekend of discussions and recriminations over how a 20-minute phone call on Thursday between Mr. Trump and President Karin Keller-Sutter of Switzerland appeared to have slid off the rails.
“We had no indication even in the last hours before the call of the president that it could end in this manner, and above all, no indication that we would be hit with such a punishment,” the Swiss economy minister, Guy Parmelin, said in an interview on local radio.
Mr. Parmelin gave no details on what the Swiss could offer Mr. Trump to sweeten a deal and said one could be “difficult to achieve” by Wednesday. But the Swiss noted that countries that wound up securing a better outcome had done things like increase investment pledges and vow to buy more U.S. energy products, he added.
Mr. Parmelin said the Swiss had held “good negotiations” with White House officials, including U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. They had been aiming to secure a 10 or 15 percent tariff, although U.S. officials “were always clear that at the end, it’s the president of the United States who decides,” Mr. Parmelin said.
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The post Switzerland Rushes to Give Trump ‘More Attractive’ Offer to Cut Tariffs appeared first on New York Times.
