Switzerland’s gold refiners’ trade group has pushed back against proposals to shift some refining operations to the United States as part of efforts to reduce trade imbalances and ease tariff tensions. According to the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, the Swiss government is exploring ways to persuade President Donald Trump to cut his 39% tariff on Swiss goods, which has been weighing on companies and the economy. One idea under consideration is to move gold refining to the US, but industry leaders oppose it.
Christoph Wild, president of the Swiss Association of Precious Metals Producers and Traders, urged the government not to make “hasty decisions.” He argued that recent surpluses in gold exports to the US at the end of 2024 and early 2025 were unusual and mainly reflected traders front-loading shipments before potential tariffs.
Gold plays a key role in Switzerland’s trade balance, as the country is a major refiner. Exports to the US must be converted from the 400-ounce London bars into the smaller 1-kilo or 100-ounce bars required by the Comex exchange. Wild said building more refining capacity in the US would provide only “limited” benefits.
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Info comes via a weekend Bloomberg (gated) report
