The immediate 39% Trump tariffs on Swiss imports that led Pilatus Aircraft to reportedly stop U.S. shipments are expected to be resolved.
Reports that Switzerland-based Pilatus Aircraft has halted deliveries to U.S. customers following President Donald Trump’s decision last week to impose 39% tariffs on the alpine nation are much ado about nothing, say industry experts, aviation attorneys, and insiders.
On Friday, local media there reported the Swiss OEM would halt deliveries to customers here following the imposition of the import tax.
The reports have been repeated by numerous outlets, including Reuters, which estimated that the U.S. customers account for around 40% of annual PC-12 and PC-24 deliveries.
Aviation International News quoted Pilatus as stating, “The new trade tariff imposed by the U.S. authorities puts Pilatus at a significant competitive disadvantage. In the short term, the tariff will lead to a temporary halt in PC-12 and PC-24 deliveries to the U.S. Existing relationships with our U.S. customers and provision of services will continue seamlessly and in full.”
The aircraft are popular due to their short-runway capabilities and ability to fit large and oversize luggage.
PlaneSense, the seventh-largest operator in the U.S. based on fractional and charter flight hours, flies both aircraft types.
In March 2022, Tradewind Aviation, a longtime PC-12 operator, announced an order for 20 NGX versions of the popular turboprop.
SkyShare, which operates a pre-owned fractional and management program in the Western U.S., features over a dozen PC-12s in its fleet.
Pilatus has not posted a statement or updates on its website as of this afternoon.
The OEM did not respond to our request for comment.
Per Corporate Jet Investor, the Swiss Federal Council said it “remains determined to find a solution” to remove the tariff quickly.
It is looking at “potential relief measures for Swiss businesses.”
However, one lawyer who has clients with Pilatus aircraft on order referred us to the Rolling Stones song, 19th Nervous Breakdown.
He said, “Our clients have seen the tariffs from the perspective of their own businesses, and they view it as a negotiation that will get sorted out.”
He continued, “Anyone who wants to focus on this on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis is going to have a nervous breakdown. Clients are sophisticated.”
Shortly after the lawyer spoke with us, Trump announced gold would not be subject to the tariffs.
On Friday, Yahoo Finance had noted, “Switzerland, the world’s largest refining hub, exported $61.5 billion worth of gold to the U.S. in the year ending June 2025. This amount would now face an additional $24 billion in tariffs under Switzerland’s 39% tariff rate, which took effect Thursday.”
Most experts expect that when the dust settles, Switzerland, like the EU, will move back to the previous zero-for-zero tariffs for aircraft and related parts that have existed since 1980.
Another aviation attorney, Vedder Price’s David Hernadez, also pointed to the legendary rockers, saying, “You don’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.”
Hernandez says OEMs are shuffling deliveries between customers.
“The OEMs have plenty of backlog,” he noted.
He said U.S.-based customers may have to move down in line and receive their aircraft later to avoid tariffs.
In the end, everything will be pretty much where it was before the Independence Day announcements of tariffs back in May, Hernandez believes.
Others say the move by Pilatus takes the pressure off customers.
One expert tells us, “No way (was a customer) going to pay the 39% tariff.”
David Mayer of Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, LLP, notes that aviation is a net positive export for the U.S. and crucial to Boeing.
In other words, the Trump administration has considerable pressure to exempt aerospace.
For example, Swiss International Airlines is a longtime customer of U.S. airplane manufacturers.
It currently has orders and utilizes the Boeing 777.
The widebodies currently retail for around $350 million.
Right now, Swiss is flying a dozen 777s.
Since parts are included in tariffs, if not resolved, it could make flying the airplanes economically impossible for the carrier.
Swiss lawmakers are already calling on the government to cancel the order for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
The order is valued at over $7.5 billion, according to reports.
The U.S. OEM beat out France’s Dassault to win that business.
Mayer says, “The problem is the lack of clarity. It’s not the public that is confused. It’s also the people processing the imports.”
He says clients are concerned about obtaining refunds for mischarges and charges applied retroactively.
Mayer recommends that clients discuss tariffs at the outset to understand the seller’s approach.
If tariffs are applicable, he suggests negotiating a formula.
Mayer said it is reasonable for both parties to share the pain.
There should also be an exit clause if tariffs exceed a certain level.
PlaneSense President & CEO George Antoniadis says, “As the largest operator of Pilatus PC-12 turboprops and PC-24 jets in the U.S., we will continue to pre-sell fractional shares into our growing fleet.”
He adds, “We are monitoring the tariff situation closely and working with Pilatus, industry groups, and government officials to ensure that the zero-for-zero tariff structure for aircraft and aircraft parts under the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft will be reinstated.”
A Tradewind Aviation spokesperson said, “Hopefully, there will be a deal in line with the EU/US agreement exempting aerospace.”
A SkyShare spokesperson says the company “has been absorbing the impact of Swiss tariffs since April,” adding “We source Pilatus PC-12 parts through Stanz (where the OEM is based) in Switzerland, with cataloguing managed in the U.S. via Western.”
The spokesperson says, “For our managed aircraft clients, SkyShare’s approach is built on transparency and cost control. In the vast majority of cases, parts are billed at direct vendor cost, so when tariffs increase, the impact is a pass-through. We find our managed Pilatus clients are currently enduring the storm while hoping the current administration negotiates a better solution soon.”
CEO Cory Bengtzen tells Private Jet Card Comparisons the contracted rate nature of management fees protects fractional customers.
He says the model “is designed to avoid sudden, burdensome capital calls to owners.”
Bengtzen says that for customers who have business usage to take advantage of the accelerated depreciation that is part of the recent Big Beautiful Bill, those savings outweigh extra short-term costs.
He believes, “Even with the tariffs, market pricing for Pilatus parts is still competitive with other manufacturers.”
Bengtzen adds, “All in all, the Pilatus is just a super-reliable, incredibly safe platform.”
The Swiss tariffs were hardly the top headline in Washington D.C. yesterday.
Trump extended the freeze on higher tariffs for China by 90 days.
He then announced the Federal government had taken control of the Washington, D.C., police force to help curtail crime.
Trump also said Nvidia and AMD would pay the U.S. government 15% of their companies’ sales to China.
Days after calling for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to be fired, Trump met with the tech boss yesterday.
Following the meeting, he posted on Truth Social, “(Tan’s) success and rise is an amazing story.”
Finally, he said he is considering launching a lawsuit against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
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