Bullish Breitling CEO predicts further US tariff cuts

Breitling’s outspoken CEO Georges Kern is beating the drum of optimism regarding the Swiss watch industry’s relationship with the US administration.

“I am confident that we will solve the issue of 15% [tariffs] and that it will go lower,” Kern said in an interview this week, Bloomberg reports.

A tumultuous 2025 saw tariffs of Swiss exports to the USA increased to 39% in July, which we now know was at least partly because of how President Trump felt personally about members of the Swiss government.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Trump said he set the original 39% levy because he felt that former Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter had “rubbed me the wrong way” during a call.

Although this rate was eventually brought down to 15% (in line with the standard EU rate), this is still higher than the historical norm, which leaves Kern optimistic that further progress can be made.

At the heart of his argument against the levy on Swiss watchmakers is the fact that there is (almost) no competition domestically in the US that the Swiss are holding back.

“There is no American watch industry — we’re not taking away any jobs in the US,” Kern said during the same interview. 

On top of this, recent data suggests that, from a balance of payments perspective, the US actually holds a significant trade surplus with Switzerland (some estimate as high as CHF 9 billion), again undermining the case for punitive tariffs.

Recent data supports the Swiss position. Guy Parmelin, Keller-Sutter’s successor, noted that the US now actually holds a trade surplus with Switzerland—nearly 9 billion francs by some estimates—undermining the core “trade deficit” argument used to justify the levies.

With or without a further easing of trade friction between the countries, Kern is still bullish about the US being Breitling’s core market for the foreseeable future.

“The US is still going to be the main market for us,” Kern said. “The fundamentals are great — low energy costs, investment incentives, a strong labor market — while the fundamentals in Europe are not good.

“It’s booming. AI, everything is in the US,” he continued. “Capital is there, everything is there. I’m very confident in the US.”

Later this year the private equity-owned Breitling will also re-launch two other brands. Galletis at the lower end of the market (CHF 2,500–5,000), while Universal Genève’s entry price will be closer to CHF 15,000.