Switzerland is pursuing trade ties across Asia and Latin America amid global economic uncertainty, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said. SECO says Switzerland’s limited domestic market makes access to foreign markets important.
Anadolu Agency reported Nov. 2 that Parmelin spoke at a briefing for foreign journalists in Bern. He said Switzerland’s reliance on overseas markets made turning inward impractical and called diversification the country’s response. “Diversification is our answer,” Parmelin said, according to Anadolu. He presented the push as an addition to Switzerland’s established trade ties with Europe and the United States.
Parmelin cited initiatives involving India, Thailand, Vietnam and China, as well as an agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Mercosur, Anadolu reported. The Mercosur market has about 270 million people, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) says.
The EFTA-Mercosur agreement was signed Sept. 16, 2025, but has not entered into force for Switzerland, EFTA says. SECO says access to foreign markets matters for Swiss growth, prosperity and jobs because the country has a limited domestic market. It says the agreement would improve access for Swiss exporters, while Switzerland would grant tariff-rate quotas for sensitive agricultural products. SECO describes most of those quotas as small or consistent with current import volumes, and tolerable for Swiss agriculture.
Switzerland and China signed an optimized update to their existing free trade agreement on Oct. 30. The agreement was established in 2014. Switzerland’s foreign ministry says the update is intended to improve access for Swiss goods and investment and strengthen labor and environmental protections through a legally binding chapter on trade and sustainable development — the first such chapter in a China free trade agreement. EconoTimes previously covered the pact’s tariff changes. EFTA lists the Mercosur agreement’s entry into force for Switzerland as pending, with no date specified.
