Swiss flag in the port of Geneva, Switzerland, March 13, 2024.
Dennis Bariboos | Reuters
U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer told CNBC on Friday that the U.S. and Switzerland have reached a trade agreement.
The Swiss government said in a post on X that the tariffs would be reduced to 15%, adding that further details would be announced at 4pm local time.
“We have basically reached an agreement with Switzerland,” Greer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday morning.
“They’re going to bring a lot of manufacturing from here to the United States, including pharmaceuticals, gold refining, and railroad equipment, so we’re very excited about this deal and what it means for American manufacturing.”
“We’ve been working on it in earnest since April,” Greer said, adding that details of the deal would be published later on the White House website.
The agreement will bring national tariffs on Swiss products in line with the rates imposed on products entering the United States from the European Union.
“As with all of the president’s agreements, we will maintain the tariffs,” Greer said Friday. “We maintain tariffs on these countries because we have to keep the trade deficit in check. But Switzerland, for example, has agreed to manage its trade surplus with the United States, so we’re certainly going to build here things that Switzerland has a trade surplus with, like pharmaceuticals and gold, so some of the sources of that surplus will go away.”
He pointed to the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Rochepledged to invest $50 billion in the U.S. earlier this year.
Back in July, President Donald Trump announced 39% tariffs on Switzerland, which stuck after the Swiss delegation was unable to reach an agreement with U.S. officials in last-minute talks in Washington.
This means Switzerland will be subject to the highest tariffs imposed on any individual country by the Trump administration.
Switzerland, an export-driven economy, has already been hit by the tariffs. Swiss authorities last month slashed the country’s economic growth forecast for 2026, citing the “heavy burden” of U.S. tariffs on its industry.
Its biggest exports include watches, medicine, and precious metals, but the country is also famous for luxury goods, chocolate, and skin care products.
of swiss franc The currency rose 0.4% against the dollar following Friday’s trade deal announcement.
