Swiss Tariff Deal Brings Relief to Struggling Watchmakers

Three months. That’s how long it took Swiss watchmaker Grovana to restart exports to the US when Donald Trump hit the country with a 39% tariff rate.

After the announcement in August, Grovana’s owners had to figure out how much of the levy it could absorb, assess the damage to profits and renegotiate with its main distributor on prices. In early November, finally, shipments to the US began again.

After all that haggling and stress, the watch sector, and other Swiss exporters, finally got some relief on Friday, when the US said it would cut the tariff to 15%, ...