US President Donald Trump has openly expressed his views regarding the decision to increase the tariff imposed on Switzerland. He said he did not like the way he was spoken to during talks with the Swiss leadership, following which he decided to increase the tariff rate.
According to Trump, the tariff imposed on Switzerland is very low
In an interview with Fox News, Trump mentioned a phone conversation with Swiss Federal Council member Karin Keller Sutter. According to Trump, he had earlier imposed a 30 percent tariff on Switzerland, which he was calling very low.
What did Trump tell?
Trump claimed that he received a call from a female leader of Switzerland, who described herself as a representative of the small country and demanded relief from tariffs. According to Trump, during the conversation she was repeatedly saying that Switzerland is a small country and cannot afford a 30 percent tariff.
The US President said he made it clear to the Swiss leader that even though the country is small, it has a $42 billion trade deficit with the US. Trump alleged that Switzerland was exporting goods to America, but was not paying any tariff on them.
Trump has made this claim before also
Trump also said that he did not like the tone of the conversation. According to him, for this reason they increased the rate from 30 percent to 39 percent. Even before this, Donald Trump had made a similar claim during the World Economic Forum held in Davos. He had said there that a woman leader from Switzerland was repeatedly appealing to him to reduce tariffs and citing being a small country, but he called trade deficit a big issue.
Last week, on February 6, India and America issued a joint statement regarding the multilateral trade agreement. After this, America reduced the tariff imposed on India to 18 percent.
