By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Business Minister Guy Parmelin will fly to Washington on Tuesday, the government said, to try to avoid the 39% tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on exports to the United States.
The pair will “facilitate meetings with the US authorities at short notice and hold talks with a view to improving the tariff situation for Switzerland,” the government said.
It not specify which parts of the U.S. government they would meet in Washington or whether a meeting was scheduled with Trump.
The Swiss government said on Monday it was ready to make a “more attractive offer” to United States as it sought to avoid a 39% tariff, due to take effect on August 7, which would damage Switzerland’s economy.
The Federal Council, the governing cabinet, held an emergency meeting and said it was ready to pursue negotiations beyond the August 7 deadline.
The government gave no details of what extra incentives could be offered to secure a better deal, but it did say it was not considering any countermeasures against the U.S.
The aim of Keller-Sutter and Parmelin’s trip was to present “a more attractive offer to the United States in a bid to lower the level of reciprocal tariffs for Swiss exports, taking U.S. concerns into account,” the government said.
(Writing by John Revill and Madeline Chambers, Editing by Miranda Murray and Giles Elgood)
