As seeks to deepen its ties with Europe amid its ongoing rivalry with the US for global influence, it has concluded negotiations for a new trade deal with Switzerland that will eliminate tariffs on nearly all Swiss exports.
According to a statement issued by the Swiss government on Thursday (local time), the agreement grants 99.8 per cent of Switzerland’s exports duty-free access to China. Further, Swiss investors will also get better access to the Chinese market, Bloomberg reported.
Switzerland-China trade agreement: What we know
The latest agreement between the two countries will also offer some relief to Switzerland amid the ongoing risks to its export-oriented economy posed by US trade policy. While the Swiss government secured an initial agreement with the US to cap tariffs at 15 per cent, doubts remain as Washington has yet to sign a legally binding deal. Last year, when US President ’s administration announced reciprocal tariffs, Switzerland was initially hit with a 39 per cent levy, the highest rate among developed countries at the time.
Under the terms of the latest agreement, key Swiss exports that can go to China completely duty-free include , pharmaceuticals and precision instruments.
Other areas covered in the new agreement include rules of origin and trade facilitation, trade in services, digital trade, competition, and economic and technical cooperation.
On Thursday, China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Swiss President Guy Parmelin marked the conclusion of negotiations on the updated trade agreement. It concludes years of negotiations on an update to a free-trade agreement in place since 2014. It exempted almost all Chinese sales to Switzerland from tariffs, but only included about half of Swiss exports to .
Additionally, China also agreed to stricter rules on labour rights and environmental issues in a revised sustainability chapter of the deal. The Swiss also noted that, for the first time in a free trade agreement (), Beijing has agreed to include a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Swiss government added that the formal signing of the new agreement is planned before the end of this year, following which domestic approval processes will follow.
Switzerland-China bilateral trade
Beijing is Switzerland’s third-most important trading partner after the (EU) and the United States. According to a Reuters report, bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to 46 billion Swiss francs ($57.6 billion) so far in 2026.
According to data from the Swiss customs office, trade between Bern and has expanded from 31.7 billion francs in 2015 to 51.2 billion francs last year, with China a big market for Swiss chemicals, pharmaceuticals, precision instruments and watches.
(with agency inputs)
