President Donald Trump is turning up the economic pressure on Switzerland once again, imposing new tariffs of up to 12.5% while accusing the European nation of failing to effectively prevent foreign-made goods produced with forced labor from reaching the American market.
The move, announced at the end of July 2 is part of Trump's aggressive trade strategy — one that treats access to the enormous U.S. consumer market as a powerful bargaining chip rather than an unlimited privilege for foreign exporters.
The Trump administration's justification was direct:
"Switzerland does not effectively prohibit the importation of products made with forced labor in other countries."
Washington is not accusing Switzerland of using forced labor domestically. Rather, the dispute centers on whether Swiss law and enforcement are strong enough to prevent products made with forced labor elsewhere from entering Switzerland and subsequently reaching American consumers.
Switzerland immediately rejected the U.S. allegations as unjustified and incomprehensible, insisting that
