Is a trade deal part of mandatory referendum? Or what do we need to do to trigger one?

Also at the very least any Bundesrat participating in any ceremony with the orange dictator should make it very very clear and explicit (obvious enough for the american media) that nothing will be signed until our people have voted on this.

We cannot let ourselves get used for their propaganda and give them any kind of public "win" (which is really just fixing part of what he broke for absolutely no reason).

by clm1859

20 comments

  1. it absolutely isn’t. we’d have to vote on so many bilateral or multilateral treaties, that would be crazy. you can of course start a referendum. so that will show the next president.

    edit: i’m not even sure that you could have a facultative referendum on a bilateral treaty – i might be wrong, but i’m under the impression that a referendum can only have laws as target.

  2. Translation : Switzerland is expected to be one of the next countries with which the USA will reach a basic agreement on tariffs.

  4. OP, international economic policies are not here to cater to your TDS, there are jobs and lives at play here.

  5. What are the disadvantages in your opinion if they find an agreement?

  6. Damn right wing morons are selling our soul to the orange idiot and his pet…
    If they believe that will be an constant deal they are dreamers!

  7. We have here an expert of foreign policy I see.

    Don’t take me wrong, the Trump presidency is an absolute travesty. These trade tariffs are stupid, inflationary for the US, and put the US itself in a stupidly weak negotiating spot. Trump truly is dumb.

    This however doesn’t mean that we, as Switzerland, should automatically react by giving a hard line to the US or refusing to negotiate altogether. If anything, since modern day Switzerland always made its strength in neutrality, friendly relationships with the US and portraying itself as a place where dialogue is key, it seems an absolute horrible idea to do the exact opposite.

    Not wanting to ‘give them a win’ sounds to me more of an approach of a third grader than a diplomat. Let elected politicians and diplomats do their job. And educate yourself on how Swiss politics works – of course you don’t need to vote on any piece of legislation or agreement that is passed.

    If then, at some point in the future, a popular initiative is started for a referendum, we will see.

  11. Excuse my French, but you sir have the diplomacy skills of a carrot.

    US is our biggest trading partner. Accepting the high tariffs without talks is not smart.

    Trump is a moron yes, but we have to make the best out of it.

    Let our officials do their jobs.

  12. Don’t expect that, the Swiss are only against the agreements with the EU. Any agreement that will be done with the orange turd will be justified as absolutely necessary for the existence of the country. I don’t expect the SVP or the FDP go against whatever Trump will demand from Switzerland, they will simply say, if we don’t sign it, 150000000000 Swiss will lose their jobs, and billions of Swiss companies will bankrupt, and everyone will believe them.

  15. He will declare a win irrespective of the outcome. The whole thing is theatrics and he’s a pathological liar.

  16. Literally everybody in this sub agrees that Trump is an asshole. However, the US is our largest trading partner at this moment not doing this hurts us more than it hurts them.

    We need to do the same thing Canada is doing. Get the deal done and then slowly reorient away from the United States as they are no longer a trusted partner. After everything that happened over the last few months, there’s no coming back. Trust has been broken irreversibly. We need to secure our economy of today and plan of for the future of tomorrow with increased cooperation with the EU.

    Edit:
    I will add this from my other comment because its important:
    If I had power of the bundesrat I would do what the EU did and put counter tarrifs however I know that’s not smart. The issue with complying is what if this happens again?

    If Trump broke the deal again in the future what do we do then? We cannot just renegotiate over and over and over again and he has broken multiple deals over and over again.

    I’m not saying we shouldn’t do this deal. We absolutely should. Assuming we didn’t have to make any concessions since we didn’t actually start this.

    The major issue with this strategy versus doing what the EU did is that you’re being taken advantage of potentially. Not just that they may break the deal in the future, but also if you do not put a plan in place and how to decouple your economy in the long term, the tariffs will incentivize companies to move, especially in fields that are based on knowledge work, which is pretty much all of Swiss industry. So while I agree, we should do a deal to alleviate the pain of today.

    If there is no solid plan on how to get rid of dependence, that is the United States and expand relationships with the rest of the world, especially the EU, we are fucking ourselves in the long term which means making no deal would have been better. It really all depends.

  18. First, the USA runs a trade surplus with the UK, not a deficit. Second, the UK on net has the 2nd largest national trade deficit in the world, after the United States.

    The UK + US tariff news is a preliminary “deal” that fundamentally leaves the unilaterally imposed 10% tariffs in place (vs the [currently] paused 31% blanket tariffs imposed on CH), and will only be finalized into a trade agreement over the next 18-24 months. According to the council on foreign relations:

    * Most of the restrictions on US exports to the UK (which are modest) remain.
    * The UK got the 232 tariff on up to 100,000 cars down to 10%, and the tariff on steel down to zero (restoring the old TRQ) — both set an important precedents for the coming more consequential negotiations with Europe, Japan and Korea (the 232 tariffs can be changed)

    * Note Trump presented the 10% tariff on British luxury cars as a one off; he just personally likes Rolls and Jags.

    * That won’t fly with the EU and Japan. They will also want a TRQ (at a minimum). Also notably that the minimum tariff for cars seems to be 10% (reciprocal) + 2.5%

    * The deal opened up the British market for US ethanol (the kind of ag concession typically found in a real ‘free trade agreement”, which almost never result in fully open trade in agriculture)

    * The deal also opened up the UK market for hormone free beef produced in the US, and gave the UK a small beef quota for the US market (“reciprocal” opening).

    * The 232 deals (reducing the 25% sectoral quotas) matter the most for future negotiations — as the 10% tariff on autos and the zero tariff on steel are targets for all other auto and steel producing countries (EU/ JP/ KR cannot accept less than the UK on autos … )

    * So it the US sticks to a “25% unless it is a rolls ” tariff rule (or only offers 100k tariff rate quotas at 10%) to the big auto export powers (and for that matter to Canada and Mexico, who also now face 25% … ) the negotiations with the rest of the world could break down …

    * Lots of salesmanship, but the reality of this deal is that the UK more or less accepted the 10% reciprocal tariff — and bargained for a few adjustments to the 232s.

    I don’t know why any other country would rush to be second in line for such a “deal”

  19. Ah yes, calling the democratically elected president a dictator. Reddit moment.

  20. There is no trade deal. There is a path to make an agreement to possibly make a deal. It’s all show, the fact that the two big Pharmas said they would invest 150 Billion (which they were most likely planning already for a long time and may not even happen) into the US appears to have been enough for the idiots in Washington. There appears to be zero interest in Washington for Switzerland to invest more into research and education in the US…

    It’s a huge shit show and Switzerland it trying to navigate this without pissing off the EU or the Chinese. Also note that Switzerland does have a lot of experience with this kind of shit because of our neutrality. We have a Freetrade agreement with the Chinese which the US hates but that will definitely not go away, in fact we are expanding it.

    Of course publicly Trump will call this a win just like with the UK but the Chinese and the EU aren’t stupid.

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