US ambassador: ‘Switzerland’s good offices will continue to be needed’

Scott Miller took up the post of US ambassador to Switzerland in January 2022. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

US Ambassador Scott Miller believes Switzerland has made “tremendous progress” in adopting sanctions against Russia, but he says more could be done to close loopholes when it comes to finding Russian oligarchs’ funds.

“Neutrality has never been a static model. It must be continuously adapted to the circumstances. Switzerland’s good offices will continue to be needed,” Miller said in a wide-ranging interviewExternal link in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. “For example, Switzerland could one day serve as a conference venue that Russia and Ukraine could use.”

Miller, who took up the US ambassador post in Bern in January, said that not adopting sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine would have caused even greater damage to the reputation of the Swiss financial sector.

However, he argued that Switzerland should join the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force initiated by the US government to track down Russian assets hiding in shell companies and trusts in the country.

Trade deal

The ambassador also offered thoughts on advancing free trade between the US and Switzerland. Negotiations on a free trade agreement have stalled, with a key sticking point being Swiss agriculture tariffs. Trade between the two countries has grown though. In April the US surpassed Germany to become Switzerland’s largest export market for the first time.

“We can take steps towards free trade by entering into sectoral agreements,” he said. A key opportunity he sees is in the pharmaceutical industry where the two countries are in the process of “facilitating trade”. The pharma and chemical industry accounts for nearly two-thirds of Swiss exports to the US.

In response to questions about Switzerland’s free trade agreement with China, Miller said he planned to raise the issue of labour exploitation in China, specifically the allegations of forced labour of the minority Uyghur population with counterparts in the Swiss government.