The protocol upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement was signed in Beijing on October 30, the Ministry of Commerce announced.
Under the protocol, the two sides will make high-level opening commitments on goods, services and investment on the basis of the original FTA, and further upgrade rules on origin, trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, digital trade, competition, and trade and sustainable development. The successful upgrade will further deepen China-Swiss economic and trade cooperation, provide a more solid institutional guarantee for bilateral trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and demonstrate the two sides' clear stance of supporting free trade, openness, cooperation and a rules-based multilateral trading system in the current uncertain international environment.
Switzerland is China's seventh-largest trading partner in Europe, and China is Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia. Bilateral trade reached $49.04 billion in 2025. Signing the protocol will help expand market access and promote two-way investment, release greater cooperation potential, bring more innovation opportunities and development dividends to enterprises and peoples of both countries, and set an important example for countries jointly addressing international economic and trade challenges.
China and Switzerland signed their FTA in 2013, effective July 2014. The two sides launched upgrade negotiations in September 2024 and announced their conclusion in August 2026 after five rounds. Following the signing, both sides will complete their respective domestic legal approval procedures and work together to bring the protocol into effect as soon as possible, so that enterprises and peoples of both countries can benefit early.
