Switzerland's goal in the trade dispute with the USA: to be the second country after Great Britain to reach an agreement

The faces are serious, if not tense. Karin Keller-Sutter purses her lips. Right at the beginning of this press conference, it seems clear that the Federal President and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin have no major breakthrough to announce in the trade dispute with the United States.

Nobody expected that, either . But what the two then said at the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel didn't exactly blow anyone away: The talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were "constructive and friendly." Both sides wanted to expedite the further process.

The sweet process: Since American President Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day on April 2, Switzerland has been threatened with general import tariffs of 31 percent, much higher than the EU's 21 percent. Trump initially suspended the tariffs for 90 days. Since then, Switzerland has been trying to negotiate them away as completely as possible.

Karin Keller-Sutter reiterated this on Friday. "Even at 10 percent, it will be difficult," she said during the question-and-answer session. 10 percent is the general tariff rate for all of the US's trading partners. Local companies are already suffering from the uncertainty, Keller-Sutter continued. "We are fighting for jobs in Switzerland. It's a matter of survival."

Following Keller-Sutter's telephone conversation with Trump in April and several meetings in Washington, Switzerland now intends to finalize a letter of intent and send it to Washington "in the next one to two weeks." On this basis, State Secretaries Helene Budliger Artieda (Economic Affairs) and Daniela Stoffel (Finance) will then hold further talks in the USA.

The Federal Council's goal sounded ambitious on Friday. On Thursday, Great Britain reached an agreement in principle in its tariff dispute with the United States. Keller-Sutter now said: "Switzerland should be one of the next countries—we hope, of course, to be the second."

The US had not given any guarantees for this, the President explained. But they had assured that Switzerland would be among a group of countries that would be dealt with expeditiously.

"If we were to reach an 'agreement in principle,'" said Keller-Sutter, apparently slightly annoyed by the lengthy process, then the 90-day period until tariffs could possibly come into effect would be interrupted. At least.

In terms of content, the talks with the US on Friday focused on well-known points of contention. Keller-Sutter said that she felt the US had a "grid" that it was working through with all countries. These apparently include tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, subsidies, and currency manipulation.

"Of course," the question of the Swiss franc, which is currently the "hardest currency in the world," always comes up. Switzerland has already refuted the suspicion of currency manipulation in previous years, Keller-Sutter said. The National Bank is independent and has the mandate of price stability.

Swiss agricultural subsidies were also at issue, confirmed Economics Minister Parmelin, without providing details. The US sees this as a distortion of competition. Simplified import of American agricultural products is part of the agreement in principle with Great Britain.

Switzerland and the United States also discussed the planned double taxation agreement. This agreement has been fully negotiated and is currently blocked in the U.S. Senate. "This would, of course, also promote investment in the United States," Keller-Sutter said.

Such statements made it clear that Switzerland does not want to appear as a supplicant to President Trump. Swiss companies are the fourth-largest foreign investors in the US in industrial production and the largest in research and development. They have created 400,000 jobs, with an average salary of $130,000. "Which is a lot!" said Keller-Sutter.

And yes, Swiss companies, especially those in the pharmaceutical industry, want to invest an additional CHF 150 billion in the USA, the President confirmed media reports. This is already being heard by American representatives.

But, the finance minister added, companies would only invest "if they received a signal that they had legal certainty." Speaking in English, Keller-Sutter, who speaks the language excellently, later went a step further: She called for "certainty and the rule of law," meaning planning security – and the rule of law. Harsh words addressed to the world's oldest democracy.

Keller-Sutter expressed similar confidence when asked by a journalist whether her 25-minute phone call with Donald Trump in early April had contributed to the president's initial suspension of tariffs on all trading partners. "I hope so," Keller-Sutter said with a smile. "He should listen to women."

And then there was China. The other superpower with which Switzerland spoke on Friday was almost overshadowed by the ongoing spectacle surrounding Donald Trump. Especially since the issue here isn't about preventing worse, but rather about closer cooperation: Switzerland is known to be negotiating with China on an expansion of the bilateral free trade agreement that has existed since 2014.

Guy Parmelin said he spent about 45 minutes with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng taking stock of the first round of negotiations. There were "interesting results," and a Chinese delegation would come to Switzerland in July for the second round of negotiations. Nothing more substantial was revealed—and perhaps nothing happened.

The Swiss meetings with China and the US on Friday were merely a pleasant sideshow before the real event: the first known talks between Washington and Beijing since the renewed trade dispute began. They will also take place this Saturday and Sunday in Geneva.

When asked about this, Parmelin said the Chinese were present with a large delegation and that there would be "real negotiations." President Trump announced on Friday on his social network Truth Social that he would reduce the tariffs currently in effect on China from 145 percent to 80 percent. The Bloomberg news agency had previously reported that the US could offer a reduction to 60 percent starting next week. It should be an exciting weekend in Geneva.