Seco: EU punitive tariffs against China have no impact on Switzerland
Published: Wednesday, Jun 12th 2024, 19:00
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According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), any EU punitive tariffs against Chinese e-cars will have no direct impact on the Swiss car market. Unlike the EU and some other countries, Switzerland does not apply any trade defense measures.
"In principle, we do not consider such measures to be in Switzerland's economic interest," Seco wrote in a statement on Wednesday in response to a request from the news agency AWP. Since the beginning of this year, Switzerland has no longer levied customs duties on imported industrial goods such as motor vehicles. However, due to the free trade agreement with China, customs duties were already no longer levied on Chinese industrial products.
"If Chinese vehicles are imported directly into Switzerland (i.e. without having previously been imported into the EU internal market), they can continue to be imported into Switzerland duty-free even if the EU imposes protective or countervailing duties on Chinese manufacturers," explained the State Secretariat. When motor vehicles are imported into Switzerland, only VAT and automobile tax are payable - regardless of the origin of the goods, the country of delivery or the manufacturer.
©Keystone/SDA
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