According to Xinhua, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Switzerland’s State Secretary for Economic Affairs signed the protocol in Beijing on October 30, witnessed by President Xi Jinping and Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin. The original agreement, signed in 2013 and in force from 2014, was China’s first FTA with a continental European country; talks on the upgrade began in September 2024 and were declared concluded in August. Chinese data put 2025 bilateral trade at about 49 billion dollars.

Key points of the protocol

The protocol upgrades eight existing chapters and adds two new ones, on digital trade and on trade and sustainable development. About 300 tariff lines on each side are cut further, and products ultimately at zero tariff cover more than 99 percent of bilateral trade value. Qatar News Agency, citing Swiss figures, said 99.8 percent of Swiss exports to China will eventually be duty free, up from 53.6 percent.

Global Times reported that Reuters judged the move as going against the tide at a time when protectionism is growing in the United States and some EU countries. The Swiss industry group SWISSMEM and chemical and pharmaceutical bodies welcomed the deal and urged parliament to ratify quickly. A Chinese Commerce Ministry official said it shows both sides’ preference for certainty and free trade, and Cui Hongjian of Beijing International Studies University called it a strong response to rising trade barriers.

Views are not uniform, however. Swiss business welcomes better market access, but how ratification debates will treat agricultural opening and data and digital provisions was not found in confirmed reports. Global Times cited a St. Gallen University survey in which 42 percent of Swiss firms plan to raise investment in China. The entry-into-force date has not been set.