President Guy Parmelin flew to Washington this week to work out a better trade deal for Swiss exports, but he came back empty-handed, having made one-sided concessions to the United States instead.
The goal of Parmelin’s visit to the US was to maintain 15-percent customs duties for Swiss products, after the current tariff regime expires at the end of July.
This is crucial for Switzerland because in April, President Donald Trump threatened to raise the tariffs once the current agreement expires.
“Now they [the Swiss] pay a little. They should pay much more. We’re going to increase that,” he said at the time.
Trump did not specify by how much he would raise the tariffs, but since Switzerland was initially slapped with 39-percent duties, working out a favourable deal is of utter importance.
However, this did not happen.
Parmelin met in Washington with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer but this was the only event that went as planned.
Not only had Parmelin not accomplished his goal of negotiating the continued favourable tariffs, but he actually promised Greer that Switzerland will simplify the recognition of US standards for medical devices and passenger cars and facilitate market access for those products in Switzerland.
The USA, on the other hand, did not make any concessions in terms of tariffs.
These unreciprocated concessions have met with criticism from a number of Swiss deputies, who said Parmelin made promises to the Trump administration without consulting with the members of the Parliament first.
“That’s a pretty authoritarian approach,” said MP Carlo Sommaruga, while another deputy, Damian Müller, pointed out that “Switzerland must not believe that it can automatically buy goodwill in Washington with one-sided concessions.”
It is indeed unusual – if not unprecedented outside times of national emergency – for a Swiss president or any member of the Federal Council, for that matter to make unilateral commitments toward a foreign nation.
As far as concessions go, this is not the first time the Swiss government is buckling under the US pressure for the sake of tariffs.
In September 2025, the Federal Council said it would consider Washington’s demand – a condition for lowering customs duties – that Switzerland imports more US meat, including 1,500 tonnes of chicken treated with chlorine and raised on industrial farms.
READ MORE: Switzerland mulls allowing imports of chlorinated chickens from US
While larger quantities of US beef and bison now enter Switzerland, the government has not caved in on chlorinated chicken – but this example shows to what lengths Switzerland is ready to go to win Trump’s favour.
