Switzerland multiplies good will to try to soften Donald Trump. After notably accepting unfavorable conditions for the purchase of combat aircraft, the Swiss negotiators proposed to their American counterparts to relocate some of their gold refineries, Bloomberg reports, hoping that this can encourage them to review the very high customs tasks imposed on August 1.
With a rate of 39%, Switzerland is the hardest developed country by the aggressive commercial policy of the US president. And the concern has been mounted in recent days after Washington’s announcement “100%” in certain pharmaceutical products, an important sector of the Swiss economy, which could now graze the recession. The country’s exports to the United States have collapsed 22% in August, according to the latest statements of the Federal Customs Office.
Therefore, Swiss officials seem ready to sacrifice part of their gold industry, while their country is the center for the transformation of physical gold. Therefore, they suggest Donald Trump that they are ready to balance their property trade, when a surplus has been created due to drug and gold exports. This trend increased at the beginning of the year with respect to precious metal.
Swiss manufacturers cannot really be responsible for the person responsible. The explanation must be sought in the subtleties of gold trade. Fearing the tax of customs duties in precious metals, many investors wanted to physically move their ingots in the United States.
The movement was massive: at the end of March, this represented the equivalent of $ 61. Many of these ingots were in London, the world center since the nineteenth century, where they are generally stored in the basements of the Bank of England, with rental costs, in the form of blocks of 12.5 kg (400 ounces).
However, in New York, the bilges are much smaller and usually only 1 kg. To transport them through the Atlantic, therefore, it implies transforming them. And this stage takes place in Swiss refineries, located in ticino, near the Italian border. These are the transformation activities that Swiss negotiations have proposed to transfer to the United States.
A sector criticized in Switzerland
This proposal obviously does not delight refiners. “If I look at the profitability analysis, it makes no sense,” Simone Knobloch, the chief of the largest refinery slides, insisting that the market is already saturated. But the fate of the gold industry and its less than 2,000 employees should not arouse much emotion in the country. Some political leaders have already pressed it under the wheels responsible for the fiasco of customs tasks.
The gold sector also has a sulphurous reputation due to the narrow ties established with South Africa during apartheid. In the next few days, other concessions could appear to the administration of the United States, while the previous attempt has failed.
At the same time, the two countries published a declaration of their positions on exchange rates on Monday, September 29, September 29, September 29. Washington has recognized the law of the National Swiss Bank (BNS) to avoid excessive increase in the Swiss Franc. According to several analysts interviewed by the Financial Times, this gives more space for the maneuver at the Central Swiss Bank, while limiting the risks that are forced to connect with negative rates.
Source: BFM TV
