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GENEVA (AFP) — Switzerland’s economy minister Guy Parmelin, who shuttled back and forth to Washington trying to reduce whopping U.S. tariffs, was on Wednesday elected as the country’s president for 2026.
He was formally elected by lawmakers from both houses of the Federal Assembly Parliament with 203 out of 210 valid votes.
“These are difficult times. I am taking office in a turbulent and uncertain context, on a fragile and vulnerable continent. Our times demand determination, foresight, courage, and hope,” he told lawmakers.
U.S. President Donald Trump shocked Switzerland in August when he announced 39% duties on imports of Swiss goods, among the highest in his global tariff blitz.
Parmelin went to Washington three times in a bid to get the rate down.
Eventually, last month Switzerland and the United States announced a declaration of intent to cut the tariffs to 15%, with the wealthy Alpine nation vowing to invest $200 billion in the U.S.
Switzerland rotates the presidency annually among the Federal Council, the seven-member cabinet that serves as the country’s government, and collective head of state.
The president of the Swiss Confederation is first among equals, chairs the council and typically represents the country in major matters internally and abroad.
The position goes to whomever has had the longest run on the council without being president.
Parmelin will retain his economy minister brief when he takes over as president from Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter.
“The woman was nice, but she didn’t want to listen,” Trump said of Keller-Sutter’s initial attempts to reduce the US tariff rate.
Parmelin was president once before in 2021 and took center-stage as Switzerland hosted a summit in Geneva between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden.
A winegrower by trade, Parmelin, 66, is from the French-speaking western canton of Vaud.
He is from the hard-right Swiss People’s Party, which is the largest in the National Council, the 200-seat lower house of Parliament.
He joined the Federal Council government in 2016 as defense minister and had held the economy brief since 2019.
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By Agence France-Presse
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