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The USA insists on more transparency in Swiss commodities trading. The subject came up at a meeting in Geneva.
Switzerland is one of the most important commodity hubs in the world. She is currently in the focus of the USA. The accusation: The Swiss trading center should not do enough to ensure that the sanctions against Russia are actually enforced.
It has been known since last week that the US Treasury Department wants to exchange views with the Swiss commodities industry. This meeting has now taken place in Geneva. The main topic was the secure energy supply in Europe, writes the industry association Suissnégoce in a statement.
Topic of sanctions discussed “on the sidelines”.
It sounds similar at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. Seco emphasizes that these were talks at a technical level that the US Treasury Department is also conducting with several other European countries.
On the sidelines, however, it was also about the significance of the sanctions in the area of commodity trading. That’s why the Seco was also there. Because the Seco is responsible for the implementation of the sanctions.
Switzerland’s approach is self-regulation: it leaves it up to the companies to comply with the sanctions.
The NGO Public Eye criticizes that Seco is also responsible for enforcing sanctions against Russia. “Switzerland’s approach is self-regulation: it leaves it up to the companies to comply with the sanctions,” says Robert Bachmann from Public Eye. “Given the experience we’ve had with commodity traders over the past few decades, that’s simply not enough.”
Russia continues to fill its war chest
Seco replies that it consistently uses the instruments of the embargo law, that it insists, for example, on companies in the oil trade being obliged to provide information. The fact is: Switzerland has adopted the sanctions of the European Union and the USA against Russian oil.
Black gold is of enormous importance for Russia. Before the Russians invaded Ukraine, oil sales accounted for around a third of the Russian state budget.
At that time, Europe was the largest consumer of Russian oil. Since the sanctions, Russia has mainly exported oil to Asia. Because in Europe and in the USA Russian oil can no longer be imported. Trading in Russian oil is not prohibited, but if it is traded, a barrel of Russian oil may cost a maximum of $60. That’s about $20 less than the current price of a barrel of crude oil in Europe.
US authorities insist on more transparency
According to the Public Eye, trading has become even less transparent since then. Because trade has shifted from large corporations to new, unknown companies, about which even less is known than about the large Swiss commodity trading groups. That is why Seco must now take a closer look at what is happening in the Swiss commodity trading center.
According to Seco, the meeting with the US representatives was not primarily about the sanctions. At the same time, however, it is an open secret that the US authorities have long been insisting on more transparency in Swiss commodities trading.