Swatch Troll Donald Trump's 39% Tariffs

Swatch, the Swiss watchmaker, are trolling the 39% tariffs that the United States placed on their home country by selling a watch that flips the location of the 3 and 9 numerals. 

The tongue-in-cheek new watch – dubbed “WHAT IF… TARIFFS?” – is inspired by the “current events unfolding in today’s world”, according to the description on their website. Swatch joke that the new watch is “hopefully just a limited edition”. 

The watch is available only in Switzerland and therefore won’t be subject to the 39% tariffs – among the highest imposed on a European country by US President Donald Trump. 

A Swatch spokesperson told CNN that the watch is a “positive provocation”, and the brand will stop selling the watch when a deal is reached between the United States and Switzerland. 

Demand is “so high that we are full steam ahead with production”, the company added. 

“We need to wake up our government, which seems to have forgotten about this issue”, Swatch said in a statement. 

Their needling is for good reason: The United States is the biggest customer of Swiss watches, with exports amounting to $5.4 billion in 2024, according to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

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