By John Revill
ZURICH, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Swiss companies plan to relocate some of their operations and production abroad to deal with the impact of U.S. tariffs, according to a study by business association economiesuisse.
It surveyed more than 400 companies before and after Switzerland last month agreed a deal to reduce U.S. tariffs from 39% to 15%, with a quarter of the firms already having identified concrete steps they were taking.
Nearly a third of those firms have decided to increase investments outside Switzerland and shift production and operations abroad, the survey said.
Some 16% of companies said they were going to relocate operations to countries outside the European Union or the United States, in addition to 10% going to the U.S, and another 5% looking at the European Union.
Other options included looking more at other markets, raising prices and even halting exports to the U.S.
Rudolf Minsch, economiesuisse’s chief economist, said the relocation and investment was not damaging for Switzerland, which remained an attractive business location, though he cautioned high-skilled jobs and R&D should be kept.
As part of its agreement, Bern has also pledged $200 billion in investments from its companies in the U.S., raising concerns about the potential long-term economic impact.
UBS has said if the pharmaceuticals industry – Switzerland’s biggest export sector – relocates all U.S.-bound production to that country – cumulative Swiss economic growth over five years would be reduced from a forecast 10% to 7.7%.
Minsch said Switzerland was too small to absorb the $200 billion, and had a long tradition of investing abroad.
Those investments also helped secure jobs at home, he said.
(Reporting by John RevillEditing by Dave Graham)