Swatch CEO Hayek, US duties ‘arbitrary’ and ‘unjustified’
Keystone-SDA
Nick Hayek called the 39% tariff imposed by the US on Switzerland as “arbitrary” and “unjustified”. However, he said that these tariffs will boost the watch group’s business.
“I am convinced that Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement and show it to his voters in the United States. I am confident that the 39% duty will not remain in place,” Hayek said in an interview with the Le Temps newspaper published on Tuesday. For Switzerland, however, this shows “a crisis of leadership”, he added.
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According to the Swatch Group CEO, nothing justifies such an arbitrary tax. “We should be at the same level as the European Union”, i.e. at 15%, a percentage he says is “acceptable and that we could live with”.
In any case, Hayek does not fear a setback in demand on the other side of the Atlantic. On the contrary, he expects the opposite effect: “If consumers are afraid that prices will rise month by month, they will decide to buy faster. That is what we observe every time”.
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“We achieved a record month in the US in April because prices would have changed from the first of May,” the 70-year-old argued. The following month, Americans continued to buy at full throttle and consumption remained strong in June, the Swatch CEO added.
Hayek also believes that watch manufacturers are not the most exposed in the high-precision sector and says he is much more concerned about machine manufacturers. “For watches, all these changes create momentum, increasing the desirability of the products among consumers,” said the son of Swatch founder Nicolas Hayek who died in 2010.
Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac
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