Negotiations have been launched by Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch on a new UK-Switzerland free trade agreement (FTA) to boost trade between what she described as two services superpowers.
Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and the UK’s 10th largest trading partner. Together, the two countries are among the world’s leading service economies, exporting almost £15 billion worth of services including financial, professional, legal and architecture every year.
The current UK-Switzerland FTA, which is based on an EU-Swiss deal from more than 50 years ago, does not cover services, investment, digital or data. With most of the UK’s services exports to Switzerland delivered electronically, almost 69% in 2020, both sides are keen to rectify this in the upcoming talks.
A refresh of the trading relationship with Switzerland will add to the UK’s growing armoury of powerful service-focused deals, Ms Badenoch explained. The new deal aims to remove remaining market access barriers, improve regulatory cooperation and enable UK firms to compete on an equal footing in Switzerland.
The new deal has the potential to lower tariffs on UK exports to Switzerland, which could reduce annual duties for UK businesses by around £7.4 million.
Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, Chris Hayward, said: “The UK and Switzerland are the two largest financial centres in Europe which means strengthening our services trade relationship is a top priority for the sector. An enhanced trade agreement would address key cross-cutting issues including mobility, data flows and digital trade to the benefit of both jurisdictions.”
A paper setting out the UK's approach to negotiating an enhanced FTA with Switzerland can be found HERE.
