Switzerland may have to come to terms with a regime of lasting U.S. tariffs despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down the emergency-powers tariff program, a senior Swiss trade official said.
Helene Budliger Artieda, who leads the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), told SonntagsBlick she expects U.S. authorities to pursue alternate legal avenues to preserve import duties. She said Washington has indicated it could turn to national-security provisions or launch unfair-trade investigations to keep tariffs in place.
Following the court decision, President Donald Trump announced a 15% across-the-board tariff, reinforcing expectations among trading partners that protectionist measures will remain part of U.S. trade policy. Budliger Artieda said Swiss officials are assessing how the new measures will affect bilateral trade, but she added that overall customs duties on Swiss exports to the United States are likely to remain broadly unchanged.
Bern and Washington reached a framework agreement in November designed to reduce tensions after Switzerland had initially been subject to one of the higher tariff rates in Europe. Under that framework, tariffs on Swiss goods were reduced to 15%. As part of the arrangement, Swiss companies committed to as much as $200 billion in U.S. investment by the end of 2028.
Negotiations to finalize the framework are continuing. Both sides aim to complete talks by the end of March, Budliger Artieda said, and SECO has maintained contact with U.S. trade officials in the wake of the court ruling.
Context and next steps
Swiss authorities are carrying out an impact assessment of the latest U.S. measures while pursuing the bilateral talks intended to lock in the framework’s terms. The immediate outlook, according to SECO, is that the net level of tariffs on Swiss exports will not shift dramatically, even as legal strategies in Washington evolve.
The situation leaves Switzerland managing two parallel tracks: evaluating how new U.S. tariffs will affect exports and finalizing a negotiated agreement that reduces tariff rates to 15% and secures a large investment commitment from Swiss firms.