‘Didn’t really like the way she talked’: How a phone call from Swiss leader led Trump to raise tariffs to 39%

US President Donald Trump has revealed the real reason behind the sharp hike in tariffs on Swiss imports, and it all comes down to a phone call. According to Trump, a call from Swiss leader Karin Keller-Sutter, whom he mistakenly referred to as Switzerland’s Prime Minister, dramatically altered the course of events. In an exclusive interview with Fox Business News, he said that the way she talked to his administration changed everything. Trump described Keller-Sutter, whom he mistakenly referred to as Switzerland’s Prime Minister, as “very aggressive, but nice,” saying she repeatedly argued that her country was too small to absorb steep tariffs.He said the call convinced him not only to keep the initial levy he had imposed but to increase it further.“I didn’t really like the way she talked to us,” Trump said during the interview.“So instead of giving her a reduction, I raised it to 39 per cent.”

From there, Trump laid out his broader view of Swiss-US trade ties, arguing that Bern had benefited from minimal duties while Washington ran a large deficit.“I had an incident with a very nice country, Switzerland,” he said.“They were paying no tariffs, sending stuff over here, as nobody could believe. And we had a $42 billion deficit. And we weren’t taking anything.”Trump said he decided action was needed to narrow that gap, even if only gradually.“I said, well, we have to do something because we have to even that up a little bit. I didn’t have to get everything at one time,” he said, explaining that he first imposed a 30 per cent tariff.Calling that level “very low,” Trump claimed it still cut the imbalance roughly in half but did not resolve it.He then described the phone call from Keller-Sutter, in which she repeatedly stressed Switzerland’s size.“She was very aggressive, but nice, but very aggressive. ‘Sir, we are a small country. We can’t do this. We can’t do this,’” Trump said.“I couldn’t get her off the phone, I said, you may be a small country, but we have a $42 billion deficit with you.”Trump added that he felt inundated by follow-up outreach from Swiss officials and business figures after raising the tariff, prompting him to consider adjustments later on. He also broadened his criticism beyond Switzerland.“They’re only that way because we allow them to rip us off and make all this money,” he said, calling the Alpine nation “ultra-chic, ultra-perfect,” before adding, “I could say the same thing with another 40 countries. Some are much more egregious.”Trump’s remarks echoed comments he had made earlier in January, during the Davos Summit.Trump said he had agreed to lower the Swiss tariff rate from 39 per cent to 15 per cent after pressure from Swiss companies, including Rolex, while warning that the levy could climb again.“I reduced it because I don’t want to hurt people. Doesn’t mean it’s not going up,” Trump said at the time.Trump had also defended sweeping tariff hikes on multiple countries, saying Switzerland had taken advantage of low or zero rates.