Top Swiss economist urges free trade talks with the US

Helene Budliger Artieda urges free trade talks with the US. Keystone-SDA

The director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Helene Budliger Artieda, has insisted in an interview on negotiations on a free trade agreement with the US.

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“We need to travel there soon and see if something is possible,” she told the Tamedia newspapers with regard to the US government’s trade policy. President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose a 25% on drug imports, which could have a significant impact on the Swiss pharmaceutical industry, Tamedia wrote.

However, Budliger Artieda emphasised: “Our pharmaceutical companies already produce a lot in the US. No country invests more in research and development in the US than Switzerland.”

Swiss companies also pay average wages of $140,000 (CHF125,000) per year in the US. “We have been doing exactly what the new government wants for a long time,” she added, emphasising that contacts in the United States are being intensively cultivated.

+ ‘We’ll take the time we need’ with EU negotiations, says top Swiss trade diplomat

‘Oranges don’t grow in Switzerland’

Switzerland is always interested in new agreements, said Budliger Artieda. When asked whether such an agreement was only realistic if agriculture was excluded, she replied: “No oranges grow in Switzerland, but they do in Florida.” There are products for which tariffs could be lowered without harming Swiss agriculture.

+ Swiss business lobby warns Trump tariff turmoil could escalate

On the free trade agreement with China, Budliger Artieda explained that economic interests do not take precedence over human rights. Switzerland had agreed with China to modernise the agreement concluded in 2014 and to include an updated sustainability chapter. “We are the only Western nation that is conducting a dialog on workers’ rights with China,” she said.

This includes the situation of the Uyghurs in particular. Switzerland wants to intensify this exchange, she said.

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Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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