The customs agreement between Switzerland and the United States has provoked contrasting reactions in our country. And not only in Switzerland either. Abroad, the way the agreement was negotiated left no one indifferent. One subject keeps coming up: the visit of a Swiss delegation to the White House in early November. In this one: billionaires and business leaders who brought valuable gifts to US President Donald Trump, including a collectible Rolex and a gold bar.
“Charm operation”, but “unusual”
The British BBC speaks of a “charm operation”. According to her, it would be quite common today for visitors to the Oval Office to bring gifts. And the media cites heads of state like Friedrich Merz, who also did not show up empty-handed at the White House. The German chancellor gave Trump a historical document and a golf club during the summer. The “New York Times” sees things differently: it describes the visit as “unusual”.
“Corruption” and bribery
The newspaper “Die Zeit” uses stronger terms: “200 billion francs and a Rolex for Donald Trump: the whole thing looked like a big and, above all, expensive gesture of bling-bling submission.” Tagesschau.de goes along the same lines: “Did expensive gifts promote conciliation? The Swiss government doesn’t care: it celebrates the temporary end of the customs dispute as a success.” “Libération” even describes the procedure as “corruption” and speaks of bribes paid by Swiss bosses.
Switzerland “submitted to foreign judge”
In Switzerland, “La Liberté” also addresses the subject: although the August “affront” is “repaired”, for the Friborg media, it is a “Pyrrhic victory”. This is what we call a victory acquired at such a high cost that it harms the winner more than it benefits him: “From the start, the Confederation was humiliated on this question by the host of the White House,” writes editor-in-chief François Mauron. “In his madness of grandeur”, he would have misled the Federal Council, which nevertheless had no other choice but to return to the negotiating table and suffer humiliation and mockery. Switzerland would have “submitted to the foreign judge”, with consequences that are still uncertain.
What do you think of the way the negotiations went?
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Fee Anabelle Riebeling (fee), born in 1981, has worked at 20 Minuten since 2014. She is currently deputy head of the “Wissen, History & Digital” section.
