The US president tried to justify his decision to increase his vote against her from 30% to 39%, arguing that this happened because he did not like the way the then-Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter spoke to him on the phone.
Speaking to Fox Business, the US president explained that he had initially imposed a 30% tariff, which he called “very low”, pointing out that Switzerland had for years benefited from almost zero tariffs on its exports to the United States. However, he said, this was followed by an “urgent phone call” from the Swiss side, which he described as particularly tense.
Trump said that in that conversation, Karin Keller-Sutter was “very aggressive, but kind,” adding that the tone of the conversation bothered him, which led him to raise — not lower — the tariffs. In his statements, in fact, he mistakenly called her the prime minister of Switzerland, although in fact when the conversation took place she was the president of the Swiss Confederation and now – as of January 1 – a simple member of the country’s Federal Council.
Despite the tension, Trump noted that he subsequently came under intense pressure from Swiss officials to ease the measures. According to him, this round of contacts eventually led to a compromise, but did not elaborate on its terms.
