‘Knives out’: Switzerland descends into blame game after US tariff shock

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1. A blame game has erupted in Switzerland after the US announced an unexpected 39 per cent tariff rate on the Alpine country on its national day.

   Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is accused of grossly miscalculating the trade deal she thought she was able to secure with the Trump administration. Other critics are rounding on the country’s vast pharmaceutical industry for having sparked the ire of the US president.

   Late on Thursday, Keller-Sutter held a “disastrous” phone call with Donald Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.

   The 30-minute conversation capped more than three months and hundreds of hours of negotiations in which Swiss officials believed they were on track for securing a deal similar to the UK — a 10 per cent tariff rate. Instead, Trump announced a 39 per cent rate, one of the highest in the world — on Friday, when Switzerland was celebrating its national day.

   The Swiss media roundly criticised Keller-Sutter, with SonntagsZeitung calling the failed talks her “biggest fiasco” and tabloid Blick going as far as saying this was Switzerland’s greatest defeat since 1515, when it lost a battle against the French.

2. You dont kowtow you dont get trade. The Swiss dont have collective bargaining power like the eu and the eu folded. Countries are used to america being the simple pushover who would accommodate you and let you sell anything you want to anyone. They aren’t used yet to the new reality of an assertive America welding its economic power just as much as its military power to secure its interests. I expect alot of governments, both democratic and not to fall due to not adapting fast enough

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