China and Switzerland have signed a protocol updating their existing free trade agreement, under which the two sides agreed to eliminate customs tariffs on 99 percent of goods traded between them. The ceremony took place in Beijing. The protocol will take effect once both countries complete their internal ratification processes.
An agreement dating to 2013
The update builds on the free trade agreement originally signed in 2013, which entered into force in 2014. Swiss President Guy Parmelin attended the signing in Beijing.
Negotiations to revise the agreement began in September 2024 and ran through five rounds of talks.
Context of EU trade tensions
The signing comes at a time when the European Union plans to apply protectionist trade measures against China. The agreement is described as China’s first free trade agreement with a continental European country.
No date for the protocol’s entry into force has been specified beyond the ratification requirement.
