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Richemont chair Johann Rupert said he expected the US to swiftly reduce punishing tariffs on Swiss exports, after joining a business delegation to the White House that helped break months of deadlock between Bern and Washington.
“The signs are that the misunderstanding has been cleared up. I think it will be resolved [as soon as] this week,” Rupert told media at the Cartier owner’s second-quarter update on Friday, calling the tariffs “potentially devastating for the whole of Switzerland”.
Switzerland has been hit with a 39 per cent US tariff — totalling about 44 per cent for Richemont once existing duties are included — since August, the highest imposed on any developed economy. Washington has cited Switzerland’s $39bn trade surplus with the US as justification.
Richemont sales handily beat expectations in the second quarter, driven forward by high demand in the Americas despite the imposition of tariffs. Group sales grew 14 per cent at constant exchange rates for a total of €5.2bn, with double-digit growth in every region.
Rupert said the White House visit last week, which included executives from Rolex, Richemont, Mercuria, Partners Group, MSC and MKS PAMP, travelled to Washington to convey the damage the tariffs were causing. He added that he hoped it would go down to 15 per cent.
“It is an enormous privilege to have access to the most powerful man in the western world — and probably the world,” he said. “I’ve got lots of people whose lives would have been badly affected, not just colleagues but other industrialists living in Switzerland.”
“We did not negotiate with the White House,” Rupert added. “There was no mandate to negotiate. We believe [the Swiss government representatives] are doing a good job.”
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