Bern ready to abandon digital tax
Published
While pending parliamentary initiatives call for the imposition of a digital tax in the United States, the Federal Council has reportedly already abandoned this in its draft agreement.
Any attempt to regulate American tech giants angers Trump.
According to sources "very close" to the matter, the Federal Council has already made significant concessions in the digital domain to appease Donald Trump, reveals the "NZZ am Sonntag." The draft customs agreement with the United States includes a Chapter 4 entitled "Digital Trade and Technology." It stipulates that Switzerland will refrain from introducing a digital tax. This is a highly symbolic gesture, given that the freedom of American tech giants is one of the pillars of Donald Trump's trade policy, and any attempt at regulation or taxation triggers the wrath of Washington.
However, several parliamentary initiatives are currently calling for just such a tax, the weekly magazine points out. Franziska Ryser (Greens/SG) has tabled a motion to this effect within the Committee on Economic Affairs and Fees (CER). The national councillor says she is "surprised" that Bern is engaging internationally on an issue still pending in Parliament: "Switzerland must not be intimidated. The tech giants are Trump's oligarchs."
The bourgeoisie has a completely different opinion: National Councillor Marcel Dobler (FDP/SG) believes that "regardless of the customs dispute, a new digital tax would be a serious mistake." It would be a disadvantage for our economy and would make services more expensive for consumers. National Councillor Franz Grüter (SVP/SG), himself an IT entrepreneur, agrees. According to him, a digital tax would provoke "considerable rejection from the United States" and would be "inevitably counterproductive from a tactical point of view."
On Saturday night, a US appeals court declared most of Donald Trump's tariffs illegal , giving Switzerland renewed hope. Interviewed by the NZZ am Sonntag on this subject, Rahul Sahgal, director of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, sees this as a weakening of Washington's negotiations and an opportunity to reduce the 39% surcharge imposed on Bern. However, Richard Baldwin, professor of international economics at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, is more cautious: Donald Trump, a pragmatist, will find other ways to maintain the pressure.
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