Inside or outside? Norway and Switzerland’s responses to increased US-EU trade tensions in 2018 and 2025

The Trump administration’s tariffs regime has caused great concerns for Europeans over recent years. In June 2018, under the first Trump presidency, the US imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium from Europe, which was met by sanctions from the EU. In the spring of 2025, the second Trump administration announced a general increase in tariffs, again sparking a debate about how the EU should respond. Caught between the US and the EU are countries deeply integrated with the EU internal market, but which are not members of the EU’s customs union, such as Norway (through the EEA) and Switzerland (through its bilateral agreements). How have the implications of the increased tensions between the US and the EU for their relations to the EU been perceived by Norway and Switzerland? What factors condition these perceptions? In this paper, we examine the discursive responses of the two non-EU states, theorizing that their interpretations of the implications of the increased tensions are conditioned by their arrangements with the EU, economic- and political structures. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of the discourse of political actors during two periods of increased trade tensions between the US and the EU (March-July 2018 and March-August 2025).