After days of waiting, the U.S. presidential election results were finally announced yesterday. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be leading the country for the next four years. Independent of the change in administration, the excellent relationship between Switzerland and the U.S. will continue. The United States is an important partner for Switzerland in every respect. Relations are rich in tradition and extremely diverse. It is estimated that one million people with Swiss roots live here. The country is the second most important destination for Swiss exports and an important hub for education and research. In addition, Switzerland is the 6th biggest foreign direct investor.

Recently, Switzerland voted too. The "Super Sunday" of September 27th with five federal referenda created a lot of excitement. While the Initiative for Moderate Immigration (limitation initiative) was clearly rejected by more than 60% of the voters, only a razor thin majority of 50.1 % accepted the Federal Decree on the Procurement of New Fighter Aircraft for the Swiss Army. The clear rejection of the limitation initiative is an impressive and renewed commitment to the proven bilateral path between Switzerland and the EU. Now, Switzerland will have to negotiate an institutional framework agreement with the EU which will mark another milestone in our bilateral relations.

Meanwhile, the world continues to suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, the recent economic indicators published in Switzerland reflect the extent of the economic crisis caused by the lockdown. Luckily, it turns out that the first half of 2020 is not as negative as had been assumed in the June forecast. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Swiss economy started to swiftly recover after COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed in April, with both consumer and investment demand exceeding expectations in the second quarter. Still, Swiss GDP will drop by 3.8 % in 2020, the largest decline the country has experienced since 1975. But once more, Switzerland proves that its capacity to rebound from a crisis is among the best in the world. Furthermore, a large pharmaceutical sector, a rich mix of industries, a healthy national budget, a solid social security network, and excellent relations between the government, the economy, and society will ensure Switzerland to survive the corona recession relatively unscathed compared with other countries.

The strong resilience of the Swiss economy was also addressed at the recent Swiss Peer-to-Peer conference, organized by the Swiss Business Hub USA. Swiss businesses laid out how they were adapting to a new business environment during a two-day conference.

Despite this rather positive prospect, we must remain vigilant and protect ourselves and our families. We are by far not yet out of the woods.

Stay safe!

Peter Zimmerli

Born in Chur (GR), Rico spent the first 30 years of his life in Switzerland where he earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Basel. After receiving his Ph.D., Rico and his wife Beatrice emigrated to the United States where he started his postdoctoral career at the University of California in Davis. A few years later, he accepted an Assistant Professor position at the University of Oklahoma and also became the Research Director of a local Biotech Company where he still serves.

Rico has two children, Sheree and Jamie. As a proud father, he just waved his daughter Sheree goodbye as she permanently returned to Switzerland to start her own career in Visp at the famous Lonza AG. His son Jamie just started college with a business major in mind.

Serving as an Honorary Consul in Oklahoma, Rico is not only providing assistance to all Swiss living in the Sooner State, but also maintains strong relations to the local government promoting Swiss values and qualities. In this function, he is an appointed member of the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team and Dean of the Oklahoma Consular Corps. Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world and as a Swiss innovator himself, Rico loves to bring out the “Swissness” in everyone he meets.