Markus Ritter, president of the Swiss Farmers’ Association, is calling for measures to shield agriculture after Switzerland’s new tariff agreement with the United States, reported SRF. The deal will grant duty-free quotas for American beef, poultry and buffalo meat—concessions that Ritter views with concern.
In an interview with Sonntagsblick, he acknowledged the political logic of the agreement, remarking that the Federal Council has to live with Donald Trump and practise realpolitik, and welcomed the fact that the worst case scenario for the Swiss economy has been avoided. Even so, he argues that farmers will need additional support, including structural and investment aid to modernise or rebuild farm infrastructure. Swiss agriculture must not suffer as a result of the tariff deal, he insists.
The arrangement has revived the perennial row over chlorinated chicken—American poultry treated with chlorine rinses, a practice banned in Switzerland and across Europe. Ritter supports maintaining the prohibition. Guy Parmelin, the economics minister, struck a more equivocal note. Speaking to SRF, he stressed that any change would require a formal political process; yet in an interview with the Sonntagszeitung he signalled openness to allowing a small quota of 1,500 tonnes, with mandatory labelling similar to that used for hormone-treated beef. Such labels, he argued, let consumers decide for themselves; imports of labelled hormone-treated beef, he noted, have fallen from 800 to 250 tonnes.
The tariff agreement itself is substantial. Parmelin and Helene Budliger Artieda, the state secretary, recently secured a reduction in American import duties on Swiss goods—from 39% to 15%—bringing them in line with EU levels. In return, Switzerland will offer duty-free quotas of 500 tonnes of beef, 1,500 tonnes of chicken and 1,000 tonnes of buffalo meat. Swiss import rules for American dairy products will also be simplified, according to a White House fact sheet.
Although reliable data on chlorine use in American poultry production are lacking, industry estimates cited by The Guardian suggest that 5–10% of chicken may be treated in this way. The issue has stirred resistance elsewhere in Europe, notably in Britain, where the prospect of chlorinated chicken became a flashpoint in recent trade debates.
In Swiss politics, as ever these days, every concession seems to require compensation. What farmers fear losing to foreign competition they now hope to claw back from taxpayers—who already underwrite one of the most heavily subsidised agricultural sectors in the OECD. In Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Korea, between 40% and 49% of farm income comes from public support, a sizeable hidden food cost.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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