Introduction to UK–Switzerland Free Trade Agreement

Switzerland is a potential high-value export market for the UK. Currently (March 2024), the UK and Switzerland are in negotiations to agree an enhanced Free Trade Agreement to replace the rollover deal that has been in place since EU Exit.

Switzerland is a wealthy country with a thriving services sector and one of the highest levels of income per capita in the world. It also has a very generous policy support for farmers, with the objective of maintaining domestic production and protecting the environment.

Switzerland represents a potential high-value market for the UK, with discerning consumers who have the ability and willingness to pay for high-quality foodstuffs. However, Swiss trade policy objectives are to protect domestic production: to ensure that only products that Switzerland cannot produce are able to access their domestic market easily. Domestic production is protected by high-tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Swiss consumers express a clear preference for domestically produced food, but its limited high-quality agricultural land means it is unable to meet all of that demand. Add to this a higher-than-EU average level of consumption for pork, dairy and lamb products, and Switzerland represents significant opportunities for UK meat exports.

Despite not being a member of the EU, Switzerland is part of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and, therefore, EU producers have an advantage over the UK. Also, New Zealand supplies much of their imported lamb. Third-round negotiations for a UK–Switzerland enhanced Free Trade Agreement (FTA) took place in November and December 2023, and it is hoped that a final deal will be agreed in 2024.

In this series of articles, we analyse the Swiss market and the possibilities it represents for our levy payers.

Continue reading about the UK–Switzerland FTA

• Trade between the UK and Switzerland at a glance
• Switzerland trade and production
  • Beef
  • Lamb
  • Pork
  • Dairy
• Consumer demand: Is there a market to export more UK red meat and dairy to Switzerland?
• Agricultural policy in Switzerland
• Switzerland's Free Trade Agreements
• Economic modelling of the beef, sheep, dairy and pork sectors (coming soon)