Swiss precision-machinery company K.R. Pfiffner announced the lay-off of 80 of its 105 employees, blaming the 39 % tariff that had priced its high-end automotive tooling out of the U.S. market. While many of those redundancies will now proceed, management said relocation of some production lines to an FFG plant in Ohio is “back on the table” given the new 15 % ceiling.
The episode underscores the human-capital risks when trade policy shifts abruptly. Several veteran technicians had been earmarked for U.S. knowledge-transfer secondments that were cancelled when orders evaporated; those assignments may now be revived for the Ohio move but too late for workers already handed notice.
![Tariff Pressure Forces Swiss Machinery Maker to Cut 80 Jobs, Highlighting Mobility Risks]()
Pfiffner’s case is a cautionary tale for mobility leaders: build contractual flexibility into assignment agreements, include tariff-contingency clauses in cost-projections and maintain “ready pools” of cross-trained staff to redeploy quickly when market access changes.
Swissmem, the engineering-industry lobby, warns that up to 30,000 jobs could vanish if tariff relief were reversed—a reminder that mobility policy must be closely integrated with corporate trade-risk monitoring.
The episode underscores the human-capital risks when trade policy shifts abruptly. Several veteran technicians had been earmarked for U.S. knowledge-transfer secondments that were cancelled when orders evaporated; those assignments may now be revived for the Ohio move but too late for workers already handed notice.
Pfiffner’s case is a cautionary tale for mobility leaders: build contractual flexibility into assignment agreements, include tariff-contingency clauses in cost-projections and maintain “ready pools” of cross-trained staff to redeploy quickly when market access changes.
Swissmem, the engineering-industry lobby, warns that up to 30,000 jobs could vanish if tariff relief were reversed—a reminder that mobility policy must be closely integrated with corporate trade-risk monitoring.
