By Ludovic Malot - entrepreneur & economist
There are revelations that leave no room for doubt: what Washington is trying to impose on Switzerland is no mere customs haggling. Behind the demand to relocate part of our gold refining, a major geopolitical manoeuvre is being carried out in the open air: to weaken the only Western currency still backed by real confidence, and to neutralise the world's last bastion of refined precious metal. Switzerland is not facing a “deal”, but a strategic offensive aimed at the heart of its sovereignty. And if our parliamentarians do not stand up now, we will lose what makes us a free country: our monetary independence.
🇨🇭Or Switzerland: the US ultimatum reveals the real war underway
We have to stop being naive. What Donald Trump is demanding - relocating part of Switzerland's gold refining to the United States in exchange for a lower tariff - is no “trade deal”. It is a major geopolitical operation: a assault on the only truly sound currency left in the West, and a warning to Switzerland to give up its monetary autonomy.
Trump is not forcing an industrial concession on us.
It imposes a monetary disarmament.
The United States knows that Swiss gold - its purity, capacity, neutrality and confidence - is a pillar of our sovereignty. And they know that the real threat to the dollar is not China or Russia: it's Switzerland, when it remembers that it was once a country with a solid currency.
Ferdinand Lips announced it in Gold Wars - which he sent to all federal parliamentarians:
«The dollar system can only survive if gold remains marginalised. Any nation that strengthens its reserves becomes a threat.»
And here we are.
1. It's not a trade war: it's a war against gold
Washington's demands are clear:
- moving swiss gold to american soil ;
- weaken our value chain; ;
- reduce our ability to control the source, refining and quality ;
- turning a strategic asset into an administrative dependency.
The implicit message :
Swiss gold must be under US legal control.
Because once it is on US soil, it is subject to extraterritoriality, sanctions, pressure and potential confiscation. Lips again:
«Gold held out of political reach is an act of rebellion against the dollar empire.»
2. Switzerland must buy 1500 tonnes of gold - now, not tomorrow
With 1,040 official tonnes, Switzerland is far behind what is required for credible neutrality in a fractured world.
The SNB holds more than 360 billion in US Treasury bonds, This is the debt of a state that is bankrupt in accounting terms and whose currency is based solely on military strength.
We need immediately exchange these securities for gold - at least 1500 additional tonnes - in order to :
1.guarantee the long-term value of the Swiss franc (art. 99 Cst.)
2.Protecting Swiss savings from a collapse of the dollar
3.cutting strategic dependence on a state that uses trade as an instrument
4.strengthen the basic currency of all our exchanges: trust
Lips wrote:
«The dollar is a fiction supported by coercion. Gold is the only monetary truth that doesn't need defending.»
3. Strengthen refining in Switzerland, not relocate it
Swiss refining (Valcambi, Pamp, Metalor, Argor) represents 65 to 70% of world refined gold some years.
This is the last strategic industry in which Switzerland dominates the world.
Relocation is not an “opportunity”.
This is a existential threat.
On the contrary, we must :
- increase our refining capacity in Switzerland; ;
- secure supply ;
- strengthen Swiss Made certification; ;
- reduce our logistical vulnerability ;
- protect LBMA standards under Swiss control.
Nothing must leave the sovereign perimeter.
4. To Swiss parliamentarians: wake up
What is at stake is not a matter of customs.
It is the future of the franc, our industry and our neutrality.
Every parliamentarian should reread Gold Wars - and understand that Lips was not a “pessimist”, but a visionary. Twenty years ago he wrote:
«Nations that abandon gold will abandon their freedom.»
It's about time Swiss politicians stepped up to the plate:
- demand a national plan to re-peg the franc to real assets; ;
- launch a massive gold-buying programme; ;
- repatriate all the gold stored abroad; ;
- Refuse any relocation imposed by Washington; ;
- make the SNB a monetary bulwark, not a hedge fund exposed to the dollar.
Conclusion: gold is our sovereign nuclear core
Faced with a world where paper currencies are collapsing, where powers are imposing their interests by force, and where bilateral agreements are being used as levers of domination, Switzerland cannot afford to remain passive.
Gold is not a metal.
It is the life insurance of our national independence.
If we abandon our gold, it's not just our economy that will falter.
It is Switzerland itself.