UK and Switzerland complete a new round of upgraded negotiations for a free trade agreement
London, February 3 (Xinhua) -- The British government announced on the 3rd that the UK and Switzerland have completed a new round of upgraded negotiations for a free trade agreement. This negotiation focuses on optimizing and expanding the existing trade framework, aiming to further deepen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, inject new impetus for British companies to explore the European market, and consolidate Switzerland's position as an important trading partner of the UK.
According to the UK Department for Business and Trade, Switzerland is currently the tenth largest trading partner of the UK, with close trade relations between the two sides. As of September 2025, the bilateral trade volume between the UK and Switzerland reached 49 billion pounds (approximately 466.4 billion yuan), with the service industry accounting for over 60% of the total trade volume between the UK and Switzerland, covering key areas such as law, consulting, and finance. The data shows that this trade relationship has created and supported 130000 service industry jobs in the UK, becoming an important force driving employment and economic growth in the country.
However, the existing free trade agreement signed by the two countries in 2019 has obvious limitations - the agreement focuses on goods trade and does not include key areas of modern economic and trade cooperation such as services, investment, digital trade, and data flow, making it difficult to adapt to the current economic structure and cooperation needs of the UK and Switzerland, and becoming a bottleneck that restricts further upgrading of bilateral trade.
The focus of this upgrade negotiation is on the above-mentioned shortcomings. The UK government stated that the new agreement will provide long-term and stable Swiss market access guarantees for UK service industry enterprises, clarify rules for the free flow of data across borders, optimize business travel arrangements, reduce cross-border operating costs for enterprises, and improve the convenience of business development. Both sides have reached an extension consensus on the service industry mobility agreement, extending its validity until 2029, to build a more stable policy bridge for cross-border employment and exchange of professional talents between the two countries.
In terms of specific issues, the UK and Switzerland have reached a temporary agreement on environmental and labor policies, and have decided to integrate the relevant content into a separate chapter on "Trade and Sustainable Development" and include it in the new version of the agreement.
The UK government emphasized in the statement that advancing the upgrade of the free trade agreement with Switzerland is an important component of the UK's strategy of "promoting economic growth through strengthening international economic and trade ties". In future negotiations, the UK will adhere to high standards in various fields while ensuring that the rights and interests of the national healthcare service system are not affected, ultimately reaching a high-quality trade agreement that meets the needs of the UK's economic development and benefits both countries' businesses and people.