Tag Archive: global trade

Swiss government calls for counter-proposal to the Responsible Business Initiative

2025-09-03

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2025-09-03

The federal government wants to counter the new Responsible Business Initiative with an indirect counter-proposal. The future regulations should be based on new provisions currently being discussed in the European Union. The national government does not want to go any further. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox On Wednesday, it set …

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Vitol: the secretive trading giant minting fortunes for its employees

2025-09-03

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2025-09-03

The commodity house is among world’s most profitable companies and has returned $20 billion to senior staff over past three years. Across two floors of an unremarkable office block tucked between Buckingham Palace and London’s gritty Victoria coach station sits one of the most profitable but least known companies in the world. Commodity trader Vitol …

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Swiss machinery sector continues to suffer from shrinking demand

2025-08-26

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2025-08-26

The Swiss machine and engineering industry remains caught in a downward spiral. In the current year, the number of orders have continued to fall, as has turnover. The industry association Swissmem assumes that the order situation will deteriorate even further. The main reason for this is the US tariff hike at the beginning of August. …

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Trump made direct financial demands during call with Swiss president

2025-08-17

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2025-08-17

During the telephone call between Karin Keller-Sutter and Donald Trump on July 31, Trump demanded direct payments from Switzerland, according to an investigation by SonntagsBlick. Contrary to initial assumptions, the conversation was not initiated by Keller-Sutter, but by the US Trade Representative.

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US tariffs putting 100,000 jobs at risk in Switzerland

2025-08-16

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2025-08-16

United States tariffs of 39% on Swiss imports will directly affect 100,000 jobs in Switzerland, mainly in the watchmaking, machinery, metals, and food industries, warned the business umbrella organisation economiesuisse on Friday. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox For the Swiss business federation, "the consequences could be even heavier, as suppliers and service providers also suffer indirectly".

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Lufthansa mulls importing its future Boeing aircraft via Switzerland

2025-08-14

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2025-08-14

Lufthansa is considering buying new Boeing aircraft from the United States via Switzerland. This measure could reduce the US trade deficit with Switzerland and thus help the country to avoid punitive customs duties, according to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The order from German airline …

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Gold will not be subject to tariffs, says Trump

2025-08-12

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2025-08-12

'Gold will not be subject to tariffs,' American President Donald Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social on Monday. Last week, it was unclear whether the new tariffs would also be imposed on gold bars from Switzerland. Trump himself weighed in on the issue of gold tariffs after confusion and panic triggered by the … Continue reading »

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Swiss government working with firms to overcome high US tariffs

2025-08-10

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2025-08-10

The Swiss delegation that travelled to Washington has returned from talks on tariffs in the United States. The negotiations are now being conducted under the aegis of the government and the federal administration. "The federal administration has very close and regular contacts with the Swiss economy at all levels. Such cooperation has always been a …

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WTO improves its world trade forecast thanks to Trump’s tariffs

2025-08-09

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2025-08-09

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) expects world trade to grow by 0.9% this year, better than expected in April. US imports surged in the first quarter as a result of Donald Trump's tariff announcements. Imports to the US rose by 11% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, … Continue...

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Swiss gold exports might not face US tariffs after all

2025-08-09

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2025-08-09

Gold exports to the United States may not be taxed after all. The White House plans to issue an executive order in the near future to clarify misinformation about the taxation of gold bullion, in particular. This announcement of a future clarification decree, transmitted on Friday by news agency AFP, follows information from US customs …

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Swatch CEO expects spike in demand due to US tariffs

2025-08-06

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2025-08-06

Nick Hayek called the 39% tariff imposed by the US on Switzerland as "arbitrary" and "unjustified". However, he said that these tariffs will boost the watch group's business. "I am convinced that Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement and show it to his voters in the United States. I am confident that the 39% … Continue...

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Swiss president to meet Marco Rubio for tariff talks

2025-08-06

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2025-08-06

Karin Keller-Sutter will be received by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting is scheduled for 4:15pm Swiss time (10:15am local time), according to the US State Department on its website and is not open to the press. Keller-Sutter and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin arrived in Washington on Tuesday …

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‘Knives out’: Switzerland descends into blame game after US tariff shock 

2025-08-04

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2025-08-04

President Karin Keller-Sutter is under fire for failed trade talks with Trump administration. A blame game has erupted in Switzerland after the US announced an unexpected 39% tariff rate on the Alpine country on its national day. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is accused of grossly miscalculating the trade deal she thought she was able to …

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Beyond tariffs: how Switzerland turned trade talks into climate action with Mercosur 

2025-07-18

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2025-07-18

The Mercosur trade agreement recently signed by Switzerland includes commitments on environmental impact. These come on the back of increasing public scrutiny of free trade deals. After eight years of talks, the deal between Mercosur and the EFTA countries was finalised this month. It eliminates tariffs on industrial products, food, and agricultural goods, including Swiss …

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US says Switzerland at ‘front of queue’ for trade deal

2025-05-12

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2025-05-12

Tariffs: Washington puts Switzerland "at the front of the queue" of countries Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article Toggle language...

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Chinese biotechs eye Swiss collaboration as relations with US sour

2025-05-08

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2025-05-08

China has made major inroads in the biotech sector. They are now the largest developers of major classes of drugs such as antibody drug conjugates. Keystone-SDA Listen to the article Listening the article...

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Wait A Sec, That’s Not Really An *RMB* Liquidity Pool…

2022-07-01

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2022-07-01

Ben Bernanke once admitted how the job of the post-truth “central banker” is to try to convince the market to do your work for you. What he didn’t say was that this was the only prayer officials had for any success. Because if the market ever decided that talk wasn’t enough, only real money in hand would do, everyone’d be screwed.

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Curve Inversion 101: US CPI Politics Up Front, China PPI Down(ing) The Back

2022-06-16

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2022-06-16

While the world fixated on the US CPI, it was other “inflation” data from across the Pacific that is telling the real economic story. Having conflated the former with a red-hot economy, the fact American consumer prices aren’t tied to the actual economic situation has been lost in the shuffle of the FOMC’s hawkishness, with markets obliged to price wrong-way Jay.

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T-bills Targeted Target

2022-05-20

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2022-05-20

Yesterday’s market “volatility” spilled (way) over into this morning’s trading. It ended up being a very striking example, perhaps the clearest and most alarming yet, of a scramble for collateral. The 4-week T-bill, well, the chart speaks for itself:During past scrambles, such as those last year, they didn’t look like this. They would hit, stick around for an hour, maybe a bit longer, and then clear up as collateral books get balanced in repo like...

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Briefing Even More Inventory

2022-03-01

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2022-03-01

Retail sales stumbled in December, contributing some to the explosion in inventory across the US supply chain – but not all. Inventories were going to spike even if sales had been better. In fact, retail inventories rose at such a record pace beyond anything seen before, had sales been far improved the monthly increase in inventories still would’ve unlike anything in the data series.

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