Now Swiss officials are weighing concessions in sectors spanning energy to agriculture, after President Karin Keller-Sutter’s earlier attempt to stand up to Donald Trump backfired. The spotlight fell on the world’s largest gold refining hub in the canton of Ticino as Switzerland reeled from Trump’s tariffs. To some extent, the major Swiss gold refiners are an easy target for politicians — and they only employ 1,500 people. However, painting the gold refiners as the villains of Switzerland’s 2024 trade surplus — which Trump seemed to blame for the 39% tariff — doesn’t bear scrutiny. The US had a surplus of roughly $3.6 billion in gold with the Swiss last year.