Swiss Confederation President Karin Keller-Sutter attends the 55th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter declined to say whether her country could this year strike a deal on tariffs with U.S. President Donald Trump, following trade tensions that have strained relations between the two nations.
"It's not possible to forecast," Keller-Sutter said in a Tages-Anzeiger newspaper interview published on Friday when asked about the possibility of an agreement in 2025. "Everything depends on whether the U.S. president gives the green light or not."
Following a call with Keller-Sutter in late July, Trump imposed 39% tariffs on Switzerland in August, justifying them by the size of the U.S. trade deficit with the Alpine country.
Keller-Sutter drew domestic criticism for her handling of the call, and Trump later publicly complained she "didn't want to listen" to his concerns about the U.S. deficit.
Since then, the Swiss government has been working to get a better tariff deal with Trump, pitching a package of investment pledges and proposals aimed at reducing the U.S. deficit.
Keller-Sutter, whose term in office under Switzerland's one-year rotating presidency concludes at the end of 2025, said Swiss officials are continuing to talk to the U.S. about tariffs.
She observed that while U.S. tariffs affect less than 10% of all Swiss goods exports, some areas are being hit hard, noting that Swiss makers of machinery were already under pressure due to challenges such as economic weakness in neighbouring Germany.
(Writing by Dave Graham, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
