Trade in the USA: Swiss agriculture in sight
US trade officer is targeting Swiss agriculture
In the report on trade barriers in the international area, tariffs and subsidies for agricultural products are the most eye -catching.
The Federal Council held a exam of Switzerland-US-USA in front of the weekly Federal Council meeting. The relationship faces major challenges if US President Donald Trump actually decides on new tariffs on Swiss products. The Federal Council wants to be informed about the US decisions on Thursday morning. Whether he also communicates something is still open.
A report by the US trade officer Jamieson Greer provides an initial assessment where trade with Switzerland stalls from a American perspective. In the National Trade Estimate Report, the USA illuminates which global hurdles exist for American products. In the approximately 400-page document, three sides of Switzerland are dedicated.
The fact that Switzerland has lifted the industrial tariffs a year ago. This happened from a Domestic logic to strengthen the economic and industrial location. But the Americans evaluate this as positive because the tariffs have been eliminated on almost 26 percent of US exports since implementation a year ago.
Switzerland often copies the guidelines of the EU in technical trade barriers such as specifications for medical products or electrical devices. This also applies to data protection. While Switzerland knows strong protection of intellectual property to enable innovation in the pharmaceutical area.
However, these topics are rather briefly dealt with. That is why agricultural products stand out in the report: The US agricultural products would have very limited access to the Swiss market because it is protected by high tariffs, preferred tariffs for products from other countries and government regulations.
The strong subsidy of Swiss agriculture is also described as a competitive disadvantage: between 2020 and 2022, the state support of the local producers was 49 percent measured by the income, as the trade officer stated. This is three times as high as the average of the OECD member states.
Finally, the Americans are bothered by the restriction of genetically modified products. At least here the Federal Council wants to loosen the regulations a little.
The question of whether the sales market of nine million consumers for American agricultural products is really so interesting remains open. Likewise, whether the report influences the American president’s customs decision: the knowledge may not even know those who created it.
