The United States imposed 39% tariffs on Switzerland, its 7th-largest trading partner, while ignoring a $29.7 billion services surplus and $56.6 billion in transit gold flows. The result is an economically indefensible trade war against one of America’s most reliable allies.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Switzerland is the US’s 7th-largest trading partner with $292.9 billion in two-way trade in 2025
- Swiss companies employ 400,000 Americans and have invested $351 billion in the United States
- The $39 billion goods deficit ignores $56.6 billion in gold and a $29.7 billion US services surplus
- Bern unilaterally scrapped all industrial tariffs on January 1, 2024, with no reciprocity demanded
- A November 2025 deal cut tariffs from 39% to 15%, exposing the purely transactional nature of the policy
The numbers behind an exceptional bilateral relationship
Let us begin with the facts. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), two-way trade in goods and services between the United States and Switzerland reached approximately $292.9 billion in 2025, making the Swiss Confederation the 7th-largest trading partner of the United States — comparable to Japan and Ireland in economic weight. This is not a peripheral actor in the American economy: it is a foundational partner.
The U.S. Embassy in Bern acknowledges this without ambiguity:
« The U.S.-Swiss economic partnership has reached historic highs and is a model of mutually beneficial investment. »
U.S. Embassy in Bern
Each year, Swiss multinationals import nearly $28 billion in goods to the United States while exporting $19 billion from the US back to Switzerland. They invest roughly $15 billion per year in American research and development. The average salary of a Swiss-affiliated employee on American soil exceeds $100,000 per year.
The table below summarizes the key indicators of this relationship:
| Indicator | Value (2024-2025) |
|---|---|
| Total bilateral trade | $292.9 billion |
| Switzerland’s rank as US partner | 7th |
| Swiss FDI in the United States | $351 billion |
| Rank as source of FDI | 6th |
| American jobs at Swiss affiliates | 400,000 |
| Average salary | >$100,000 |
| Annual R&D investment | $15 billion |
| US services surplus with Switzerland | $29.7 billion |
| Nonmonetary gold imported | $56.6 billion |
The fiction of the trade deficit
The trade war against Switzerland rests on a single figure: the bilateral goods deficit, which Trump has repeatedly cited at $39 billion. This number, technically accurate for goods alone, is a deliberately hollow foundation on which to build a trade war. It ignores the largest component of trade, it ignores services surpluses, and it ignores the structural realities of global commerce.
Consider what the United States actually imports from Switzerland. The largest single category is nonmonetary gold — refined gold that flows through Swiss vaults to global markets. In 2025, nonmonetary gold accounted for $56.6 billion in U.S. imports from Switzerland, according to USAFacts. This is not Swiss-made wealth being extracted from America. Gold is a globally traded commodity; Switzerland’s role as a refining and trading hub distorts bilateral figures dramatically. Remove gold from the equation, and the trade deficit narrative collapses.
Then there is the services dimension. The United States runs a massive services trade surplus with Switzerland — $29.7 billion in 2024, a 30.9% increase year-on-year, according to the USTR. American banks, consulting firms, tech companies, and financial institutions generated nearly $65 billion in services exports to Switzerland in 2024. When the full picture is taken into account — as any honest trade analyst would do — the relationship is broadly balanced, with the United States holding a dominant position in services.
Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was blunt:
« It is not accurate. »
Ryan Young, Competitive Enterprise Institute, on Trump’s $40 billion deficit claim
Services numbers are not the exception — they are the norm in modern trade relations. As the Brookings Institution documented in Spring 2025, the U.S. trade deficit has been heavily inflated politically and used as a rhetorical weapon rather than an analytical metric. International trade reflects currency dynamics, comparative advantages, and consumption patterns that have nothing to do with the policies of trading partners.
An unprecedented opening of markets
Here is the fact that most makes current tariffs indefensible: Switzerland unilaterally eliminated all tariffs on industrial goods effective January 1, 2024. As the Swiss government stated in an August 2025 press release: « Switzerland unilaterally scrapped all tariffs on industrial goods as of 1 January 2024, meaning over 99% of U.S. goods enter Switzerland tariff-free. » No negotiation. No reciprocal concession demanded in advance. Switzerland simply opened its market and trusted the principle of free trade.
How many countries can say that? The European Union still maintains tariffs on a range of American agricultural and industrial products. China maintains significant barriers. Even Canada and the United Kingdom, America’s closest allies, do not offer anything approaching 99% tariff-free access for American goods. Switzerland did this voluntarily, unilaterally, and without fanfare — because it believed in open markets.
The Trump administration’s response to this extraordinary gesture? To impose a 39% tariff on Swiss exports to the United States in August 2025 — more than double the rate applied to the European Union, nearly four times the rate applied to the United Kingdom. Switzerland was punished for being more open than anyone else.
The November 2025 deal: the mask slips
In a twist that reveals the transactional nature of Trump’s trade policy, Switzerland had been negotiating the purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the United States — a multi-billion-dollar commitment that would have represented one of the largest single American weapons purchases by any country. As tariffs escalated, analysts widely speculated that Switzerland would cancel or restructure this order. Swiss exports to the United States were subject to tariffs; American exports of military equipment to Switzerland were not — a dynamic that made the purchase increasingly politically untenable.
Then, in November 2025, something changed. The White House announced a « historic trade deal » with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, reducing the tariff rate from 39% to 15%. The details of what Switzerland conceded remain debated, but the optics were unmistakable: the tariffs had been used as leverage in a negotiation, not as a calibrated response to genuine unfairness. The underlying narrative — that Switzerland was a bad actor — was apparently not so robust that it could not be set aside when a deal was to be had.
As Lombard Odier analysts noted in August 2025, « uncertainties over the duration and scope of tariffs on exports, and the business community’s response in terms of potential partial relocations to the EU to take advantage of its lower 15% US tariff rate » represent a genuine risk. If American protectionism drives Swiss investment to Europe, the 400,000 American jobs supported by Swiss companies are not safe: they are walking on a tightrope over the Atlantic.
Conclusion: a reliable partner, not a target
Switzerland has not devalued its currency to boost exports. It has not stolen American intellectual property. It has not maintained illegal tariff barriers against American goods. It has not engaged in forced technology transfer. It has not subsidized its exporters at the expense of American workers. It has done the opposite of all of these things.
The tariffs imposed in 2025 represent not a justified response to unfair trade practices — because those practices do not exist — but a deliberate weaponization of trade policy as a tool of political intimidation. The fact that a deal was eventually reached does not make the shakedown acceptable. Switzerland was shaken down, and it paid a price. The world is watching how the United States treats its smallest, most disciplined, most reliable partners. Punishing a country for eliminating its own tariffs while employing 400,000 Americans at six-figure salaries is punishing competence — not cheating. Switzerland deserved better. America deserves a trade policy that reflects reality rather than rhetoric.
Sources
- The News Pakistan — Trump targets Switzerland over trade deficit (August 2025)
- FactCheck.org — Trump Exaggerates Trade Deficit with Switzerland (August 2025)
- Office of the United States Trade Representative — Switzerland Trade Summary
- U.S. Embassy in Switzerland and Liechtenstein — Bilateral Economic Relations
- USAFacts — Value of US trade with Switzerland (2025)
- PwC Switzerland — Swiss-US Trade and Investment Outlook 2025
- Brookings Institution — The US Trade Deficit: Myths and Realities (Spring 2025)
- Lombard Odier — US Tariffs on Switzerland Take Effect (August 2025)
- The White House — Fact Sheet: US-Switzerland-Liechtenstein Historic Trade Deal (November 2025)
- Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs — Bilateral Relations Switzerland-USA
This article is published for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research (DYOR) before making any decision.
