China and Switzerland mark watershed FTA
Print Edition
A watershed free-trade deal between China and Switzerland came into force yesterday, the first such accord between the Asian giant and a mainland European economy.
The Free Trade Agreement was finally signed in Beijing in July 2013, capping two years of talks between the two nations.
The deal with the Swiss is China’s second with a European country after the FTA signed with Iceland in April 2013.
Neither Iceland nor Switzerland — whose prosperous economy emerged relatively unhurt by the crisis — is a member of the European Union.
Beijing has been pressing Brussels for a similar FTA, but efforts on that front are more complicated because China would need to find agreement with the entire 28-nation bloc, and the two sides are locked in a series of tit-for-tat trade disputes.
The Chinese and European economies are tightly linked.
The EU is China’s top export market, while China is second to the United States as a destination for EU exports.
While EU exports to China reached a record 148.1 billion euros (US$191.8 billion) in 2013, Chinese exports to the EU were worth 279.9 billion euros.
EU powerhouse Germany is China’s top individual trade partner, with its exports to China worth 67 billion euros last year, while Chinese imports in Germany hit 73.4 billion euros.
In contrast, Switzerland is one of the rare Western countries with a relatively narrow trade deficit with China, its third-ranked partner after the EU and the United States.
In 2013, its exports to China were worth 8.8 billion Swiss francs (US$9.9 billion), while Chinese imports in the Alpine country reached 11.4 billion francs.
Switzerland’s top exports to China are watches, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and machinery, while textiles and machinery head the list of imported Chinese goods.
The relatively low deficit goes a long way to explaining its business sector’s positive stance on the FTA, but the Alpine country also sees it as a way to get the edge on competitors.
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