In his lengthy speech at the Davos Economic Forum, the American president asserted that Switzerland "would no longer be Switzerland without the United States." He also justified the tariffs on Swiss products and criticised former president Karin Keller-Sutter's "aggressive attitude." This diatribe did not prevent president Guy Parmelin from describing his discussion with Trump that evening as "courteous but firm." "Switzerland is a wonderful place, with extremely brilliant people," Donald Trump declared in his speech at the WEF. But according to him, the country benefits greatly from the American market. "They arrive, they sell their watches, no customs duties, they go home, and they earn $41 billion in the process," he stated before a meeting with Swiss government ministers Guy Parmelin, Karin Keller-Sutter and Ignazio Cassis. "I could have imposed 70% taxes on Switzerland, but the country would certainly be destroyed in that case, so I'm not going to do that," said Trump.
