Same difference. Also American!
Fendt: a brand of AGCO
The Fendt brand has been part of the American global player AGCO since 1997. Headquartered in Duluth (Georgia, USA), the Group currently employs over 24,000 people worldwide and offers the most comprehensive range of machinery and solutions in the agricultural sector.
Now in the hands of the Italians! Our Brands - SDF GROUP
The vollkasko insurance of my German car increased by 250 CHF in 2026.. 
Inflation and US tariffs have massively increased the claims cost for insurances, especially car repairs in terms of replacement part costs. This currently left most providers with no other choice than increasing the tariffs. I recommend to follow up with (…) directly after his return to see what might be possible to take further influence on your specific case. You have a special right of termination until end of the year in case of AXA increasing tariffs, so no urgent decision must be taken now.
Q4 and the year are ending.
The discussions to end the 39% tariff to Swiss exports are still ongoing. No big news, the NZZ only reports impatience from the Swiss industry.
Swiss GDP contracted significantly in Q32025. Since nothing has changed it’s quite probable that Q42025 will also be a degrowth one.
This other plot form Swiss SECO shows that the contraction occurred in the secondary sector (construction and manufacturing).
Q42025 stats will be published by end of Feb 2026, but not hard to see that Switzerland is on the path of an economic recession.
Last recession was caused by Covid. This one should be called the Trump Recession because that’s the cause.
And one more chapter to the story:
Mr. Trump yesterday in an interview with CNBC:
We should be – we should have the lowest interest rate in the world. When I was a young guy growing up, we always had the lowest interest rate worldwide. We always did. And then 15 years ago, 20 years ago, it started where Switzerland and other people had lower rates than us. I just had a thing with – if you take a look at some of the, you know, let’s call them like elite countries. They’re only elite because we allow them to walk away with $30 billion and $40 billion a year. But I don’t do that so much anymore. I sort of put a clamp on that with the tariffs and charges that we charge them. Because they were elite, because they were making billions and billions of dollars from the United States, largely, and other reasons that they run a good operation. But it’s easy to run it good when you make that much money, where we have these massive deficits with – you take a look at some of the countries. But Switzerland is one. They talk, oh yes, we are a small and brilliant – well, they’re brilliant because they pay us almost nothing. Now they pay little bit. They should pay much more. We’ll get that up a little bit.
I’m lost. If I remember well, the current tariffs are 15%, but US gov should reimburse the difference between 15 and 39 to importers. What a mess.
The US will reimburse the tariffs that companies paid. They have the bills so it is quite easy to do plus they have dates so it is easy to calculate the interest due,
Consequently they will have to refund more than they collected. If they calculate the numbers correctly then the US trade deficit will be much higher this month and in every month that refunds are happening.
The U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, heard oral arguments on 10th April in an attempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck down his preferred choice — even bigger, even more sweeping tariffs.
These new tariffs were not retrospective and started a couple of months ago.
Nonsense. The paybacks affect previous quarters and will be included there.
And of course the tariffs have no direct effect on the trade deficit. The deficit doesn’t change unless the resulting higher consumer prices affect behavior/demand - which is to be seen.
Swiss GDP doing fine until Q12026 in spite of US uncertainty. Data from SECO
The tariffs story has not ended. The argument today is that Switzerland does not do enough to fight the import of goods produced with forced labor. I’d say this is a joke but what do I know…
The US is stepping up pressure on Switzerland in the ongoing trade dispute. US President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed fresh punitive tariffs on around 60 trading partners, including Switzerland.
Washington accuses the countries involved of failing to do enough to tackle imports of goods produced using forced labour. Products such as semiconductors, coffee, beef and fruit would be exempt from the new tariffs.
A report published in Washington on Tuesday (local time) by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer lists Switzerland among 54 economies that, according to the US, do not have a clear ban on such imports. Washington is proposing additional tariffs of 12.5% on 45 of those countries.
The US says that while the EU has introduced a similar ban, enforcement is considered insufficient.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable,” Greer said, according to Reuters. “This creates a situation where American workers are forced to compete globally on an uneven playing field.”
US complaining about forced labour by the Swiss!!!??? ROTFL
Let’s not get into all those se asia manufactured iphone and gadgets the US consumes …
Not to mention US unaffordable health care, groceries, rent l, fight of what minimum should even be… did i mention 2 weeks holidays, 3 sick days per year, and carry your personal phone with you because the boss can call anytime …
Slave labor?
Trump is all about projection
trump is a psychotic
Trump is just flailing around looking for a way to impose tariffs that won’t be challenged by the Supremes. Is argument against the EU is their implementation date is to far in the future not understanding that that dare is the date by which Member States must introduce national legislation.
or perhaps he is flailing around looking for distractions from the fiasco he has created in the Middle East or even his attempts to give himself immunity from the IRS to name but two
Any immunity he gives himself can be nullified by the next president.
this simply exposes his desperation and failures. He is now thrashing like a fish out of water on low tide. What I find interesting is that his immediate staff are ‘silent’ and not publicly visible.
Well they do have a point.
But Hey! Is America any better? At least they still have a list!
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2023/2024-tvpra-list-of-goods.pdf
It’s crazy the US is saying that, where many Americans have 3 jobs to get by… Honestly, imho Trump is just a retarded person (which is an insult to actually mentally challenged people I guess) and I can find very few good policies for America in all the shenanigans he’s doing.
(Switching to corporate-speak)…yes, current framework is not perfect, there are areas of opportunity, but overall good. Current success should not diminish the motivation to do better.
Back to my cynic form. Yeah, there are issues, chocolate, textiles, mining commodities trading(!). It can be better, but at least this is in the past:
Back to the import taxes, it’s misusing labor protection laws for their political games.