Mastering Tariffs In (Swiss) M&A: Dealing With Uncertainty

Executive Order 14257, presented by the President of the United States of America during a press conference in the Rose Garden on 2 April 2025, and the subsequent developments, have injected uncertainty into global trade policy. Unsurprisingly, it appears to have halted various pending deals. One can adopt a wait-and-see approach to weather the storm, assuming the clouds will eventually part. However, halting or terminating transactions altogether may not always be suitable, for example, if the business is in distress. Hence, practitioners need to find approaches to deal with the current situation.

The Buyer's and the Seller's Perspective

Despite the obvious challenge being very visible, the first question is whether to address it in the transaction at all.