(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
Upon arriving in the White House for the second time, Donald trump is expected to adopt an isolationist and unpredictable foreign policy. If this comes to pass, how will Switzerland, which favours a stable, rules-based international system, maintain a smooth relationship with the United States, a key trading partner?
This content was published on
November 21, 2024 - 09:00
9 minutes
A stickler for detail, Geraldine first arrived at swissinfo in 2014 to study rumours on social media as part of a collaborative research project known as Pheme. She now coordinates the Fact Checks by swissinfo dossier covering (mis)statements about Switzerland, and continues to follow the trail of online misinformation.
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The day after the Republican candidate decisively won the 2024 US presidential race, Suzi LeVine, the US ambassador to Switzerland under Barack Obama, was, like many, coming to terms with Trump's imminent return to the Oval Office.
“This election is going to have repercussions for decades to come,” said LeVine,“and not just in the United States, but for everybody – and every creature – in the world.”
How best to prepare for some of Trump's more radical foreign policy ideas is a question now preoccupying the world's capitals. The president-elect has threatened to impose high tariffs on US imports, withdraw support for the transatlantic defence alliance NATO, and end the US's global climate commitments. Switzerland, while not a member of NATO or the European Union, has close ties with both.
Small powers, however, are likely to fly under the radar of the Trump administration, according to Stefan Legge, an international trade expert at the University of St. Gallen's Institute for Law and Economics.
David Sylvan, emeritus professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, echoed this, saying:“The Swiss have to understand that they're extremely low priority [in Washington].” This, he added, could be an advantage in terms of avoiding getting caught in the Republican's crosshairs – if Bern plays its cards right.
A new trade war?
One of Switzerland's main priorities will be to preserve good economic relations with the US, its second-largest trading partner after the EU and its biggest export market for goods, worthExternal link CHF56.6 billion ($64.3 billion) in 2023.
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