Swiss CEO discusses attending Oval Office meeting

The meeting between six Swiss business representatives and US President Donald Trump at the beginning of November caused a stir in Switzerland and internationally. Alfred Gantner, co-founder of Partners Group, was one of the six and reveals the details for the first time. The meeting has been widely taken to be a turning point in the customs negotiations. But how the meeting came about and what was discussed has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks. Gantner spoke to Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Friday. SRF News: How did this meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office come about? Alfred Gantner: The idea came about under the leadership of Mrs Budliger [Helene Budliger Artieda, director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO] and Economics Minister Guy Parmelin to bring together people who already know Donald Trump and who will invest a large part of the CHF200 billion. Everything was agreed one-to-one. The business representatives didn’t conduct any ...