Swiss watchmaker races to beat Trump's tariff deadline

As a US tariff deadline neared last week, Swiss watch manufacturer DuBois et fils rushed to ship five high-end watches worth thousands of dollars each to the United States.

- HELEN REID

By Wednesday the firm had blocked orders on its US website. Now CEO Thomas Steinemann is calculating the price hikes he'll need to make.

The whipsaw week for the Swiss horologist, as US President Donald Trump slapped a surprise 39% trade tariff on imports from the European country, underscores how businesses big and small are being forced to adapt and rejig operations under pressure.

DuBois et fils, founded in 1785, accelerated shipments last Monday from its factory in Muttenz, near Basel, to get through customs before the US tariff on imports from Switzerland came into force.

The 39% rate — up from the baseline tariff rate of 10% since April — took effect at 6 am on Thursday, local time, after the Swiss president came back from an emergency trip to Washington without a deal.

"For the watch industry it's a huge disaster," said Mr Steinemann, who explained that he'd blocked US orders because prices would need to be recalculated to account for tariffs. The firm would not soak up the hit, he said.

"The US was a big driver in the last two years. Now this kills a lot of the business."