Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis during a media conference on Wednesday, December 5, 2025 in Bern.Image: keystone
Feb 20, 2026, 6:33 p.mFeb 20, 2026, 6:33 p.m
The Federal Council has “noted” the US Supreme Court’s rejection of the special tariffs ordered by US President Donald Trump, as it announced on Friday. He will “analyze further developments and concrete effects”. The Federal Council does not comment on the case law of the US Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court ruled that Trump exceeded his authority when he invoked emergency law to impose extensive tariffs on dozens of trading partners.
The decision was made by a clear majority of six to three of the nine judges. With the ruling, Trump’s far-reaching tariffs now lack a legal basis.
However, Trump’s team had already announced that, in the event of a defeat in court, they would try to resort to other legal bases in order to continue to enforce the US President’s customs policy. Numerous trading partners of the USA are now likely to be hoping for relief from US tariffs. However, it is unclear whether these will actually happen in the long term.
The USA imposed flat-rate additional tariffs of 39 percent on certain Swiss imported goods in the summer of 2025. In December, however, Switzerland managed to reach an agreement with the USA, as a result of which the US government reduced its tariffs on goods from Switzerland to 15 percent. In January, the Federal Council passed a mandate for negotiations on a legally binding trade agreement with the USA. (sda)