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The Federal Council wants to follow the example of the Great Britain and agree with Trump’s government as quickly as possible. After talks in Geneva with the US finance minister, the further procedure has now been determined.

« Today we agreed to accelerate the process »: After a meeting, the Swiss Federal President Karin Keller-Sutter speaks of discussions in « constructive and friendly atmosphere » after a meeting with the US Finance Minister Scott Bessent. For the first time, she presents a specific timetable how Switzerland wants to avert the impending customs hammer from America.

The setting is the 5-star hotel “Intercontinental” at the Chemin du Petit-Saconnex in Geneva: From the outside a little attractive block building with 18 floors, the traditional house with its luxurious rooms attracts the powerful of the world and serves as a diplomatic conversation stage because of its discretion. The Clintons went in and out here, as well as Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King or Sophia Loren. In 1985 US President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiated on nuclear disarmament in the “Continental”. And Joe Biden also spent the night here when there was a meeting with Russian President Putin in 2021 in Calvinstadt.

Bidens’ successor, Donald Trump, means the “Genève Internationale” less well: The fact that the United States is turning off the multilateral cooperation structure and shortening the budgets of international organizations fueled fears in the UN City. This weekend, however, it shows what important role Geneva can play in times of crisis. On Saturday and Sunday, US Finance Minister Scott Bessent and the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng have had the first direct talks since Trump announced the global customs war in early April. And China and the United States have proven themselves with tariffs of 145 and 125 percent.

Swiss delegation will travel to the USA in two weeks

The Federal Council helped to thread the meeting. Now on Friday he uses the presence of the influential politicians from Beijing and Washington in favor of Switzerland on Friday. Federal President Karin Keller-Sutter and Minister of Economics Guy Parmelin meet with US Finance Minister Bessent and the American trade delegate Jamieson Greer. The aim of the talks: a solution in the customs dispute.

As a reminder: Trump initially took Switzerland with tariffs of 31 percent, and thus higher than the European Union with 20 percent. Later, the US President reduced the punitive tariffs for all countries except China to 10 percent, initially limited until the beginning of July. Although the tariffs do not rise as long as negotiations run.

Switzerland belongs to the circle of those countries with which Trump’s government is the first to find a solution. However, the basement-sutter and Parmelin cannot yet announce any results in front of the media on Friday afternoon. After all, the Federal President announces that a declaration of intent on the Swiss side will be finalized in the coming one to two weeks and sent to the Americans.

After that, a delegation, led by the two State Secretary Daniela Stoffel and Helene Budliger, is to travel to Washington to continue the talks.

The United Kingdom provides it

With this approach, Switzerland wants to follow the Great Britain model as quickly as possible. The British were the first to agree with Trump on Thursday. « Switzerland should be one of the next countries-we hope the second-with which the United States enter into a fundamental communication, » emphasizes Keller-Sutter after the meeting.

There is still a lot to do: In the declaration of intent, Switzerland and the United States first want to determine those topics that are then to be discussed at the technical level. Tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers are discussed, the subsidy policy and tax issues, as Keller-Sutter explains.

Will Switzerland also make concessions in agriculture – the area where Switzerland raises tariffs? One is open to discussions, for example about import duties for products that are not produced in this country, but there are borders, Parmelin replies.

Chinese will return in July

After the declaration of intent is understood, Switzerland wants to conclude a fundamental communication in a second step. Federal President Keller-Sutter replies whether an official negotiation mandate of the overall Federal Council is open to a corresponding question from CH media. The declaration of intent will certainly be “informed” for the Federal Council. The further procedure depends on the concrete commitment.

Before Parmelin and Keller-Sutter in the « Continental » hotel talked to the Americans, there was a meeting with the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng on Friday afternoon. It was about the existing free trade agreement of the two countries that Switzerland wants to modernize. The talks would go well, informed Minister of Economics Parmelin. It was decided that the Chinese travel to Switzerland for a second round of negotiations in July.

For the Federal Council, the Geneva customs summit is “passé”. Now the USA and China have to show that they can speak not only with Switzerland, but also with each other.