Sawt Falasteen - US, Switzerland say reached deal on trade and tariffs

The progress was announced a day after talks in Washington, as the Alpine nation's economy minister Guy Parmelin visited in hopes of easing steep duties the Trump administration rolled out this year.

"We've essentially reached a deal with Switzerland. So we'll post details of that today on the White House website," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC in an interview.

The Swiss government separately announced that Switzerland and the United States have found an agreement where US tariffs will be slashed from their current 39-percent level to 15 percent.

Trump shocked Switzerland in August when he imposed the 39-percent duty on imports of goods from the country, among the highest in his global tariff blitz.

But Greer told CNBC on Friday that the Swiss were expected to send a lot of their manufacturing to the United States, such as pharmaceuticals, gold smelting and railway equipment.

The USTR's office did not immediately respond to queries about further details of the expected trade pact.

The Swiss government has scheduled a news conference for 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) to give more details of the agreement.

- Cautious relief -

Swissmem, the association of the mechanical and electrical engineering industry, expressed relief at Friday's announcement.

Swiss businesses have been worried that their competitors in other wealthy economies will have an edge over them, given that the European Union and Japan, among others, had earlier negotiated lower tariff levels of 15 percent.

While Swissmem noted that the announced deal provides some respite, its president Martin Hirzel warned: "The reduction in tariffs is a temporary relief for the tech industry, but we must not let our guard down. New tariffs could be introduced."

He urged officials to make further efforts in reducing costs and opening new markets.

Last week, the heads of six top Swiss firms, including the chiefs of watchmaker Rolex and luxury goods giant Richemont, met with Trump to draw his attention to the toll his tariffs are taking on their companies.

Trump has imposed sweeping duties on trading partners around the world since returning to the presidency, with separate levies on specific sectors like steel, aluminum and autos.

The high tariff rate jeopardizes entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese.

While the pharmaceutical industry, Switzerland's largest export sector, had enjoyed an exemption from tariffs on medications, it faced regular threats that Trump would soon target them too.

T.Khatib--SF-PST