US President Donald Trump is imposing new punitive tariffs on important trading partners.Image: keystone
July 24, 2026, 06:11July 24, 2026, 06:40
What’s new?
The USA has imposed new punitive tariffs on 60 important trading partners – ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent. This emerges from a document from Donald Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer. Switzerland is also affected.
The new tariffs will come into force from Friday morning at 6:01 a.m. Swiss time. On this day, the legal deadline for the previous global tariffs expires.
Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative.Image: keystone
What exactly do the new punitive tariffs for Switzerland look like?
Switzerland will be particularly hard hit by the USA’s new tariff hammer. In principle, a new tariff rate of 12.5 percent applies to them. This means that the tariffs are higher than those for the European Union, which are 10 percent.
According to the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research (EAER), Switzerland is still better off than some other countries. “The overall tariff will be increased to at least 12.5 percent, but existing MFN tariffs will be taken into account. This puts Switzerland on the same level as Japan and South Korea, but is worse off than the EU and Taiwan with a total tariff of ten percent,” said the WBF Keystone-SDA.
As with all other trading partners, not all imports of goods are affected by the new tariffs. According to US information, products that are already subject to certain other tariffs, such as steel and aluminum, are excluded. There are further exceptions for goods that have already been loaded onto a ship.
How does the USA justify the new tariffs?
Depending on the trading partner, a decision was made after an investigation as to whether tariffs of 10 or 12.5 percent were an “appropriate rate,” according to the USA. The decisive factor was whether the respective trading partners effectively enforce bans on goods produced with forced labor. Anyone who doesn’t do this will create unequal competitive conditions, which they don’t want to continue to accept. The new punitive tariff shows that Switzerland – in the eyes of the USA – is not protecting its market enough from goods that were produced using forced labor.
How does Switzerland react?
The federal government has taken note of the new tariffs on Swiss imports, but firmly rejects the allegations of forced labor. The WBF announced this at the request of Keystone-SDA.
Guy Parmelin has led the WBF since 2019.Image: keystone
There is sharp criticism of the new tariffs from the economic umbrella organization Economiesuisse. This assesses the new US tariffs for Switzerland as an additional burden for Swiss companies. “From economiesuisse’s perspective, this decision is neither understandable nor justified,” the association announced early on Friday morning. The new tariff rate creates competitive disadvantages compared to countries with lower tariff rates, including the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom.
Economiesuisse also rejected the accusation that Switzerland was not doing enough to combat the import of goods from forced labor. “There is no evidence that Swiss supply chains are being used to funnel goods from forced labor into the US market. Forced labor is already prohibited in Switzerland under constitutional, civil and criminal law,” explained the association. In addition, Switzerland has ratified the relevant ILO conventions and implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The economic umbrella organization is now demanding that talks with the USA must be continued. so that the disadvantage compared to the EU and other countries can be eliminated and further trade policy uncertainties can be prevented.
Didn’t the Supreme Court speak out against punitive tariffs?
But – Trump suffered a severe defeat before the US Supreme Court in February. The Supreme Court ruled at the time that Trump’s previous tariffs against dozens of trading partners – including the European Union – based on emergency law were unlawful. A clear majority of judges ruled that Trump had exceeded his powers as president. As a result, the US government has to pay back billions in tariffs.
As a result, Trump hastily imposed new global tariffs of 10 percent. The basis for the new import fees is Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the levy of a maximum of 15 percent for a maximum of 150 days. After that, the US Parliament would have to give its blessing – given the already high inflation, this is more than unlikely.
The fact that Trump can now impose new tariffs is due to a new justification. The government can use the same trade law from 1974 to impose new tariffs based on a different paragraph. Paragraph 301 gives the government the opportunity to take appropriate action when trade practices are proven to be “unjustified, unreasonable or discriminatory.”
Most recently, Trump’s trade representative Greer signaled in an interview with the US broadcaster CNBC the consequences that resulted from investigations based on Section 301 on forced labor. He had been asked about an article in the Financial Times that discussed a timely announcement of tariffs on imports from dozens of countries.
At the beginning of June, the USA threatened tariffs against 60 economies because they had not prevented imports of products from suspected forced labor or had not sufficiently checked existing import bans. The requirement for tariffs based on Section 301 is that the government has previously sought comments and held hearings. This was most recently the case with Brazil, when Greer announced a 25 percent tariff on certain goods from the South American country. The investigation revealed a variety of unfair trading practices, it said.
What happens next?
According to the WBF, Switzerland continues to strive for a legally binding agreement with the USA. Economeisuisse is also calling for further talks with the Trump administration. The key point is that the disadvantage compared to the EU and other countries can be eliminated and further trade policy uncertainties can be prevented.
(dab)
More coming soon…