The rate is one of the highest imposed on countries trading with the US and jeopardises entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese.

“Tariffs: After its delegation returns from the US, the federal council will hold an extraordinary meeting in the early afternoon. A statement will follow after the meeting,” the government posted on X.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and economy minister Guy Parmelin had gone to the US but were only able to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio and not Trump.

After the meeting yesterday, Keller-Sutter spoke only of “a very friendly and open exchange on common issues”.

Switzerland has been hit particularly hard by the new US tariffs on products from dozens of economies, which came into effect today.

Competitors of Swiss companies in the EU will only see their products taxed at 15%, and those from the UK at just 10%.

The wave of US tariffs taking effect today does not cover sectors that are being separately targeted by US investigations such as pharmaceuticals, a key sector for Switzerland.

This threatens tens of thousands of jobs in the Alpine country.

Trump justified his action — which took Swiss authorities by complete surprise – by the fact that Switzerland has a trade surplus of several tens of billions of dollars with the US.