The US Slaps a Flat 12.5% Tariff on Swiss Goods Over Forced-Labour Allegations

Starting Friday, July 24, Swiss exporters will face a flat-rate additional tariff of 12.5% on goods shipped to the United States, part of a broader US trade directive affecting roughly sixty nations for failing to meet new supply chain due diligence standards. The measure shifts away from case-by-case enforcement, applying a blanket surcharge to any country that does not maintain a functioning import ban on goods suspected of being produced with forced labour.

The tariff was authorized under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, targeting nations the US trade authorities determined have not done enough to investigate or prosecute forced labour within their own borders or upstream supply chains. Rather than requiring Washington’s investigators to individually verify conditions at foreign factories or ports, the administration opted for a universal threshold: establish and enforce a domestic import prohibition, or face a uniform 12.5% duty. For Swiss companies, that means every eligible export crossing into US customs territory will now carry that additional layer of cost, regardless of whether any specific shipment was linked to modern slavery allegations.

The Swiss response was immediate and categorical. The federal government formally took note of the new rate while firmly rejecting the premise that its supply chains or legal framework permit forced labour, an accusation echoed by Economiesuisse, the country’s primary industry association. Swiss officials and trade bodies have emphasized that forcing workers against their will is already criminalized in Switzerland, explicitly prohibited by both federal criminal code and the constitution, making a standalone domestic import ban largely redundant to enforcement that is already baked into the legal system.

The policy reflects a deliberate narrowing of US trade leverage, trading granular supply-chain audits for administrative simplicity and faster diplomatic impact. Under this structure, Washington effectively outsources the burden of compliance to foreign governments, treating the absence of a specific import prohibition as proof of systemic tolerance rather than a legal distinction in how nations police their own labour codes. For Swiss exporters, that distinction offers little practical relief once the tariff clock hits July 24; the duty applies automatically at the border unless Washington later identifies a pathway for exemptions or phased implementation.

Swiss industry groups are now monitoring whether the US framework will allow retroactive validation of existing supplier due diligence programs, or if it will hold companies to a stricter standard than their domestic law requires. Until that clarification arrives, the 12.5% surcharge operates as an across-the-board penalty for a legal posture Switzerland already maintains by design. The tariff is in effect starting next Friday, with compliance expectations set by Washington’s blanket threshold rather than bilateral negotiations.

Sources

• US imposes new tariff of 12.5% on Switzerland over forced labour — SWI swissinfo.ch
• New US tariffs of 12.5 percent announced — the economy firmly rejects allegations of forced labor — Economiesuisse (Swiss Association of Industry)