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Switzerland’s president lamented disappointing talks Friday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s treasury secretary that did not ease stiff U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods, but she expressed hope for a solution to a more consequential U.S.-China face-off on tariffs in Geneva this weekend. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, who also serves as finance minister, said she was nonetheless encouraged by the talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Switzerland tries to wriggle out of hefty 31% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods as part of Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs on countries around the globe. Their meeting was only an appetizer for the potentially market-moving talks Saturday and Sunday between Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva. Keller-Sutter also met with the Chinese envoy, but said it was merely a courtesy. As for the U.S.-China talks, the Swiss leader alluded to the election of the first U.S.-born pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, and quipped: “I said to Secretary Bessent that apparently the Holy Spirit was in Rome yesterday, and I hope that he will come to Geneva over the weekend. The talks have been shrouded in secrecy and the Chinese and U.S. sides have declined to specify where they will take place other than somewhere in Geneva, which hosted U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2021before Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the U.S. administration has temporarily suspended the most severe tariffs against every target country except China, the 31% rateif restoredwould put Switzerland in a worse position than its neighbors in the European Union, which are to face 20% U.S. tariffs on EU goods. The Swiss government said its talks Friday with Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were convivial and constructive and were aimed to lay out the guidelines for a deal on the issue of customs duties to be discussed again in coming weeks. On April 9a week after Trump announced the U.S. reciprocal tariffshe spoke with Keller-Sutter by phone and later announced a pause in their implementation for 90 days and capped the additional U.S. tariffs at 10% for most countries, with the notable exception of China. Of course, it is disappointing,” Keller-Sutter said when asked about the lack of a deal in talks with Bessent, before alluding to her earlier phone conversation with Trump. I also told President Trump that this was not fair. But on the other hand, you know, I mean, were not looking back, we are looking forward. “And were really encouraged by the talks we had that were going to find a solution, and the U.S. side really engaged with Switzerland also to find a swift solution, she told reporters. Keller-Sutter trumpeted Swiss investment in the United States, saying it has created 400,000 jobs and average salary $130,000, which is a lot in the United States. She said she didn’t know whether her call with Trump on April 9 convinced him to ease back on the tariffs, before adding with a laugh: He should listen to women. Going into the weekend talks between Bessent and He, the U.S. slapped 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, and Beijing has responded with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods. Earlier Friday, Trump floated the prospect that those could be lowered sharply in a social media post. 80% Tariff on China seems right!” Trump wrote on his social media account, before alluding to Bessent. “Up to Scott B. Jamey Keaten, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
After musing publicly and privately with the idea of raising the top tax rate for wealthy millionaires as Republicans draft his big bill in Congress, President Donald Trump early Friday backed off that callsort of. Trump posted on social media that hiking taxes on anyone, even the rich, could stir a political backlash, reviving the Read my lips: No new taxes warnings of the Bush-era that helped topple a president. The post came days after he floated the idea of higher taxes on those single filers earning $2.5 million and above. But this time, the president, didnt completely discourage GOP lawmakers from pursuing that option as they rush to finish their massive tax breaks and spending cuts package this weekend. The problem with even a TINY tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, Read my lips, Trump wrote. In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but Im OK if they do!!! Trump wrote Friday. The last ditch-push by the president comes as Republicans are laboring to push his big, beautiful bill toward public hearings next week, on track for a House vote by Memorial Day. Divisions run strong in the party, and the president’s on-again, off-again push for millionaires taxes complicates the outcome. Over the past months, Trump has repeatedly brought up the idea of imposing a higher rate for millionaires and the president revived his request in private talks. Trump told Speaker Mike Johnson again this week he wants to see a higher rate on the wealthy in the big bill coming from Congress, according to a person familiar with the conversations and granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. The president sees higher taxes on millionaires as a way to clip the argument coming from Democrats that the GOPs big tax package only benefits his wealthy friends, including billionaire Elon Musk, the person said. Thanks to Trumps 2017 tax cuts bill, the top rate is now a 37% bracket that expires at the end of the year. That rate is for incomes beyond about $600,000 for single filers. Trump would like to see that rate expire, reverting back to 39.6%, or 40%. This week Trump pitched top rate on incomes of around $2.5 million for individuals and $5 million for couples. The debate over millionaires has been raging with a robust collection of anti-tax activists led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist at Americans for Tax Reform and others working vigorously to prevent any tax hikes. Trump appeared Friday to have again heeded the message from Gingrich, who has warned that George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign pledged to not to implement any new taxes as president. Bush then faced an onslaught of criticism during his unsuccessful 1992 reelection campaign for breaking that promise. Trump posted a few weeks ago that Gingrich was correct. But on Friday the president said independent candidate Ross Perot had caused Bushs loss that year. As the conversations swirl in public and private, they keep coming back to Trumps own politically-populist instincts, touching off the GOP divide. Im not excited about the proposal, but I have to say, there are a number of people in both the house and the Senate who are, said Sen. Mike Crapo, the GOP chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said earlier this week on the Hugh Hewitt show, and if the President weighs in in favor of it, then thats going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration as well. Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim, The Associated Press
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E-Commerce
May has only just begun, but already, it has not been a good month for the tech industry in terms of layoffs. Since the month started, several prominent names in technology have announced layoffs, some involving a significant number of workers. Here are the companies involved in the latest round of tech layoffs Panasonic Holdings The iconic Japanese electronics giant, founded over a century ago, announced on May 9 that it would eliminate 10,000 jobs. That reduction equates to about 4% of Panasonics total workforce, reports Bloomberg. According to Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumi, the cuts are to better prepare the electronics maker for the next few decades. The company will reportedly trim back operations in nongrowth areas such as televisions and industrial products in order to concentrate on other areas, including artificial intelligence (AI). On an earnings call, Kusumi addressed the cuts, saying he was truly sorry. He added: If we dont make drastic cuts to our fixed cost structure, we wont be able to chase growth again. Of the planned cuts, 5,000 jobs are expected to be lost in Japan, while the other 5,000 jobs will be cut overseas. It is unknown how many American jobs will be lost in the cuts. Match Group The owner of the worlds most popular dating apps, including Tinder and Hinge, has announced it will cut 13% of its staff. As noted by Bloomberg, in 2024, Match employed about 2,500 full-time workers, which means that the company will be cutting around 325 individuals. Match Groups new CEO, Spencer Rascoff, announced the cuts when reporting the companys Q1 2025 results yesterday, May 8. In recent years, younger generations, particularly Gen Z, have begun to sour on dating apps, a trend that Rascoff addressed in March, a month after becoming Match Groups CEO. Too often, our apps have felt like a numbers game rather than a place to build real connections, leaving people with the false impression that we prioritize metrics over experience, he said in a letter to employees. That needs to change. Bloomberg says the cuts will see one out of every five managers be let go at Match and quotes Rascoff as saying the aim of the cuts is to help the company focus on product velocity to drive growth. Google Search giant Google is also reportedly seeing tech layoffs, letting go of 200 workers in its global business unit, reports The Information. The global business unit handles partnerships and sales at the company. A company spokesperson told Reuters that the cuts were being made as part of some changes across its teams that are designed “to drive greater collaboration and expand our ability to quickly and effectively serve our customers.” CrowdStrike The cybersecurity company CrowdStrike said on May 7 that it will cut about 500 jobs, equating to about 5% of its total workforce. The Austin, Texas-based company employed just over 10,000 people as of January 2025. CrowdStrikes CEO George Kurtz said the job cuts will position the company to move faster, operate more efficiently, and continue our cybersecurity leadership, according to The Wall Street Journal. CrowdStrike was a little-known name outside of the cybersecurity industry until last year, when a bug in its software temporarily made millions of Windows PCs worldwide unusable. Symbotic The warehouse automation company based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, announced that it will lay off 400 workers from the robotics unit it purchased from Walmart in January, reported The Boston Globe on May 3. While decisions like these are always difficult, we made them following a thorough post-close review of our operations to ensure we are best positioned for the future with an effective structure to continue executing our long-term growth strategy, the company said in a statement to The Globe. The layoffs at Symbotic will take place on June 27. Tech isn’t the only industry facing layoffs While not a tech company, its worth mentioning that accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, better known as PwC, announced earlier this week that it was laying off about 1,500 employees in the United States. That represents about 2% of its 75,000-strong workforce in America. The move is reportedly being made to cut costs. Tech layoffs mount in 2025 With these latest May tech layoffs, the total number of tech industry layoffs in 2025 has now reached 52,340, according to data compiled by the tracker Layoffs.fyi. Those layoffs have occurred at 123 companies. However, those layoff numbers are still well below the 152,922 people laid off in 2024, the 264,220 laid off in 2023, and the 165,269 laid off in 2022.
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E-Commerce
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