What Trump’s return or a new Harris administration would mean for Switzerland

With the United States presidential election looming, Switzerland – along with the rest of Europe – is bracing itself for the implications of the result for its security and prosperity. Swiss diplomats often say that the party affiliation of the occupant of the White House changes very little for Switzerland. Whether the sitting president of the United States is a Democrat or a Republican, “relations between the two countries have always been excellent,” former Swiss ambassador Jacques Pitteloud said shortly before leaving Washington this summer. But the current US election cycle is challenging this notion. Across Europe, countries are “really thinking through what a second [Donald] Trump presidency would mean for foreign, security and economic policy,” said Laura von Daniels, head of the Americas research division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. On trade and security, Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have expressed vastly different policy ...