By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter will meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, the State Department said, as Switzerland tries to win a reprieve from U.S. tariffs of 39% on Swiss imports.
Keller-Sutter and Business Minister Guy Parmelin flew to Washington on Tuesday for last-minute negotiations before the tariffs go into effect on Thursday.
The Swiss president, who is leading a delegation of officials, will meet with Rubio for a closed meeting at the State Department at 10.15 Washington time, according to the public schedule of the department.
The meeting is scheduled to last one hour.
Switzerland desperately wants to negotiate down 39% tariffs on its exports to the United States announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday.
The European country was stunned by the announcement, which threatens major damage to its export-orientated economy by reducing access to its biggest overseas market.
The United States is a big buyer for Swiss watches, machinery and chocolate, which would all suffer from the tariff that is much higher level than import duties agreed between the U.S. and the European Union, Britain and Japan.
(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Miranda Murray)
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