Federal Council adopts draft for a US negotiating mandate
Keystone-SDA
On Wednesday, the federal government adopted a draft negotiating mandate on trade and economic issues with the US. The aim is to find a solution to the US customs dispute. In addition to tariff issues, the talks will also cover non-tariff issues.
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Switzerland’s aim is to strengthen bilateral economic relations with its most important trading partner after the EU, as the federal government stated in a press release. The national government will endeavour to maintain or even improve market access in the US.
The US government under President Donald Trump introduced a global blanket tariff of 10% on imports at the beginning of April. There was also a country-specific additional tariff of 21% for Switzerland. However, this was then suspended for 90 days until July 9. Bern now wants to find a long-term solution with Washington by this deadline.
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The mandate includes tariff issues such as improving market access for selected agricultural products, but also non-tariff measures, as the Swiss government went on to say. The latter include, for example, the simplified authorisation of medical devices. The investments already envisaged by Swiss companies in the US are mentioned in the mandate.
Council committees and cantons will be consulted
The next step is to consult the foreign policy committees in parliament as well as the cantons. According to the press release, the mandate will be deemed adopted if no major reservations are expressed. Otherwise, the mandate will be returned to the government.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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