Swiss industry group says Trump's latest US tariff hike creates more chaos

ZURICH, Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's weekend announcement that he would increase a temporary tariff on U.S. imports from all ‌countries to 15% from 10% has created more chaos, and the ‌global uncertainty is dampening investment activity, Swiss industry association Swissmem said on Monday.

Switzerland was subject to ​the highest U.S. tariffs in Europe when Trump imposed a 39% import duty on its exports in August. In November, Bern secured an initial deal that cut those levies to 15%, mirroring the rate for the European Union.

Switzerland has since ‌begun talks to formalise ⁠that accord, which Washington wants to conclude by the end of March.

In a statement, Swissmem urged the government to keep ⁠pushing for a deal with the U.S. to create legal certainty, and it criticised the new tariffs.

"U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that he will increase the additional ​tariff imposed ​on Friday from 10% to 15% is ​exacerbating the current chaos," Swissmem ‌said. "Global uncertainty is huge. This is dampening investment activity."

Trump on Friday imposed a 10% temporary tariff after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff programme, and on Saturday he lifted the duty to 15%.

Swissmem said it looks as though the additional U.S. tariffs will not be added to the ‌15% tariff previously agreed between Switzerland and the ​United States.

Still, when added to a pre-existing ​5% duty on industrial goods ​before Trump began rolling out his global tariffs last year, ‌that would make for a rate of ​around 20% for ​Switzerland, Swissmem said.

"This will significantly increase prices for American customers," Swissmem said, noting that the only positive aspect for the mechanical and electrical ​engineering sector is that the ‌same or similar tariffs are likely to apply to foreign rivals.

Switzerland ​eliminated its own industrial tariffs in 2024.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; ​Editing by Linda Pasquini and Hugh Lawson)