{"id":100014,"date":"2026-07-08T19:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/100014\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:34:13","slug":"switzerland-sees-good-chance-for-15-tariff-deal-with-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/100014\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland sees \u2018good chance\u2019 for 15% tariff deal with U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

Helene Budliger Artieda in November 2025. (Ore Huiying\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n

\n July 8, 2026 2:09 PM, EDT<\/p>\n

Key Takeaways:\"Toggle
\n\u200b There is a \u201cgood chance\u201d Switzerland will secure a lasting trade deal with the U.S. at 15% tariff rates, according to the country\u2019s top trade diplomat.\u00a0 \u201cA level playing field is the ideal scenario for us,\u201d Helene Budliger Artieda, director of the StatThe stakes center on predictability for Swiss companies and concessions including U.S. market access for agriculture and a $200 billion Swiss investment pledge.Talks remain ongoing as U.S. reviews Swiss policies under Section 301, with officials seeking to avoid further unilateral tariffs and finalize a permanent agreement. <\/p>\n

There is a \u201cgood chance\u201d Switzerland will secure a lasting trade deal with the U.S. at 15% tariff rates, according to the country\u2019s top trade diplomat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA level playing field is the ideal scenario for us,\u201d Helene Budliger Artieda, director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, said in a conversation in Zurich with Bloomberg News Deputy Editor-in-Chief Reto Gregori. Swiss companies \u201cdo care about the number, but they almost now nearly care more about the predictability and the stability of the number,\u201d she said.\n \t \t\t<\/p>\n

Switzerland is in a delicate phase of negotiations with the U.S. as it seeks to secure a permanent deal to provide exporters with a more predictable trading landscape.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump stunned the country last August when he imposed 39% tariffs on its goods<\/a>, the highest on any western nation, after a telephone call with his then-counterpart in Bern went awry. Three months later, in November, Swiss officials managed to secure a preliminary framework deal<\/a> that would cap the levies on exports at 15%, on par with other European Union nations.\u00a0\n \t\t<\/p>\n

The Trump administration agreed to cut tariffs to that level in return for access to duty-free import quotas for American meat, easing imports of some other agricultural goods and a $200 billion investment pledge from Swiss companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even so, Washington opened a probe in March<\/a> under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act to determine whether Switzerland has any policies that discriminate against America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, Budliger Artieda wrote to U.S. counterparts in April to offer reassurance that Switzerland doesn\u2019t engage in \u201cinterventions that create or maintain artificially high production capacities, nor imposing a burden on U.S. commerce.\u201d She urged the administration not to apply further unilateral measures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Budliger Artieda said she\u2019s not sure what Switzerland could have done differently in negotiations with the U.S. in the run-up to Trump\u2019s Aug. 1 tariff shock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know,\u201d she said on July 8. \u201cI see what others did differently but that\u2019s just not Swiss. We don\u2019t play tricks or make promises\u201d that can\u2019t be kept, she said. \u201cWe say what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mar-a-Lago<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s rotating one-year presidency means it\u2019s harder for the president to build up a long-term rapport with Trump, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president is not there for 10 years,\u201d she said. \u201cTo go to Mar-a-Lago, that\u2019s just not the Swiss thing\u201d she said referencing Trump\u2019s Florida base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Budliger Artieda\u2019s role at the helm of SECO makes her one of Switzerland\u2019s most influential public officials. The government office oversees labor policy and economic forecasts, and markets Switzerland as a business location while also handling hot-button issues like trade and sanctions enforcement.<\/p>\n

Starting out in the foreign service, Budliger Artieda went on to serve as ambassador to Thailand and South Africa. Economy minister Guy Parmelin, now Switzerland\u2019s president, sought to capitalize on her skills at diplomacy and networking when negotiating with the Trump administration, a process that threw her into the global spotlight.<\/p>\n

When Swiss executives took the country\u2019s plea for a trade deal directly to the White House last year, Budliger Artieda pulled strings to make sure U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attended the meeting, according to people familiar with the matter. That gave the Swiss an ally in the Oval Office, as Greer had been more open to Switzerland\u2019s approach than Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s success in securing a preliminary deal capping tariffs in November was a direct outcome of that gathering.<\/p>\n

UBS<\/p>\n

A steadfast advocate of light-touch regulation in favor of Switzerland as a business location, Budliger Artieda doesn\u2019t shirk from speaking out on occasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"RoadSigns\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Clark of Cox Fleet discusses how fleets should rethink their maintenance strategies to stay efficient and resilient.\u00a0Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the midst of the government\u2019s push to make UBS Group AG hold more capital, as ministers stressed how they were unmoved by the bank\u2019s veiled threat to leave the country, Budliger Artieda has taken a more emotive approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still love UBS,\u201d she said on July 8, echoing remarks she\u2019d made in November to Bloomberg Television. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the thing that matters. It\u2019s now in the hands of the Swiss parliament and they will decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

UBS has already enough capital to meet new requirements proposed by the Swiss government, the Swiss National Bank said earlier this month. The central bank supports that push and observed that the bank\u2019s $9 billion reserves at its Swiss unit will suffice to satisfy the planned change.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helene Budliger Artieda in November 2025. (Ore Huiying\/Bloomberg) July 8, 2026 2:09 PM, EDT Key Takeaways: \u200b There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,17,112,497],"class_list":["post-100014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland","tag-tariffs","tag-trade"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116886036126805495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}