The two-minute video isn’t subtle. Wielding a medieval halberd, the president of the conservative Swiss People’s Party lays out the choice Switzerland faces: a simpler life that the country’s founders spelled out in a one-page declaration more than 700 years ago or a 2,

One country is clashing with the U.S., the other racing to appease Washington. Both approaches are being tested ahead of a looming deadline for trade deals.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter flew to the U.S. in a last-minute effort to make an “attractive tariff offer” to counter Trump’s 39% tariff taking effect on August 7.