New 15% Swiss Tariff Will Be Retroactive to Mid-November

By Rob Bates | December 11, 2025

U.S. tariffs on Swiss imports have been lowered to 15% from 39%, as expected—but what was not expected is that the tariff reduction is retroactive to Nov. 14, when the two countries announced they’d struck a deal.

The new 15% rate and its retroactive date were announced in a Swiss government statement on Wednesday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time about how companies that paid the extra 24% in the last month can receive refunds. Switzerland Global Enterprise, an import promotion group, recommends that importers who believe they are owed money submit a claim via CBP’s Automated Clearinghouse refund procedure.

Swiss gold bars continue to be exempt from tariffs, due to an executive order issued Sept. 8.

The Trump administration imposed the 39% tariff rate on Swiss imports on Aug. 1, leading to sharp decreases in Swiss watch shipments during September and October.

In related news, two Swiss lawmakers have asked their nation’s top prosecutor to investigate whether watch executives’ gifts to President Trump during a Nov. 5 Oval Office meeting to resolve the tariff issue amounted to bribery of a foreign public official under Swiss law.

The group of high-level Swiss executives—including the CEOs of Rolex and Richemont and the chairman of Breitling—presented Trump with a Rolex desk clock, as well as a gold bar customized with the numbers “45” and “47” (a reference to his nonconsecutive presidential terms). Axios estimated the bar’s value at $130,000.

A person close to the business leaders told Reuters that the gifts were intended for Trump’s presidential library and were bestowed in compliance with U.S. and Swiss regulations.

In any case, the presents did seem to have their desired effect, with one White House official telling Axios that Trump liked them even better than the engraved glass disc with a 24k gold base he received from Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“It was tough to beat Apple, but the Swiss did it,” said the official.

(Photo: Getty Images)