Swiss industry group says Trump’s latest US tariff hike creates more chaos

ZURICH, Feb 23 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s weekend announcement that he would increase a temporary tariff on U.S. imports from all countries to 15% from 10% has created more chaos, and the global uncertainty is dampening investment activity, Swiss industry association Swissmem said on Monday.

Switzerland was subject to the highest U.S. tariffs in Europe when Trump imposed a 39% import duty on its exports in August. In November, Bern secured an initial deal that cut those levies to 15%, mirroring the rate for the European Union.

Switzerland has since begun talks to formalise that accord, which Washington wants to conclude by the end of March.

In a statement, Swissmem urged the government to keep pushing for a deal with the U.S. to create legal certainty, and it criticised the new tariffs.

“U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will increase the additional tariff imposed on Friday from 10% to 15% is exacerbating the current chaos,” Swissmem said. “Global uncertainty is huge. This is dampening investment activity.”

Trump on Friday imposed a 10% temporary tariff after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff programme, and on Saturday he lifted the duty to 15%.

Swissmem said it looks as though the additional U.S. tariffs will not be added to the 15% tariff previously agreed between Switzerland and the United States.

Still, when added to a pre-existing 5% duty on industrial goods before Trump began rolling out his global tariffs last year, that would make for a rate of around 20% for Switzerland, Swissmem said.

“This will significantly increase prices for American customers,” Swissmem said, noting that the only positive aspect for the mechanical and electrical engineering sector is that the same or similar tariffs are likely to apply to foreign rivals.

Switzerland eliminated its own industrial tariffs in 2024.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Linda Pasquini and Hugh Lawson)