No impact of EU additional tariffs on Switzerland expected
Published: Wednesday, Oct 30th 2024, 14:10
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The introduction of additional tariffs on Chinese electric cars is unlikely to have any impact on the Swiss automotive market. As a non-member state, Switzerland is not obliged to follow the EU's customs decisions, according to Seco. A rush of EU customers is also not expected.
In contrast to the EU, Switzerland does not believe that protective tariffs are in its economic interest, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) announced on Wednesday in response to a query from the Keystone-SDA news agency. Since the beginning of the year, Switzerland has no longer levied tariffs on imported industrial goods such as motor vehicles.
The free trade agreement with China had already included the complete abolition of customs duties on industrial products from China. This means that Chinese vehicles could continue to be imported directly into Switzerland duty-free even after the introduction of EU tariffs. Only VAT and automobile tax would have to be paid on imports.
However, Seco does not expect a rush to the Swiss market. This is because potential EU buyers of Chinese cars in Switzerland would then have to pay the additional duties when re-exporting to the EU.
Special Swiss market
Christoph Wolnik, spokesman for the Association of Swiss Automobile Importers (auto-schweiz), also does not expect the EU decision to have any impact on Switzerland. The Chinese cars will continue to be sent to European duty-free warehouses and then brought directly to Switzerland.
For him, there is another reason why the run of European buyers for Chinese e-cars in Switzerland will fail to materialize. This is because the Swiss car market is dominated by premium products, often with special optional extras.
As a result, many inexpensive Chinese e-cars are not yet available in Switzerland. And the Swiss market is not a priority for Chinese manufacturers either. They are initially focusing on northern European countries with high subsidies. Gradually, however, these should now also come to Switzerland.
©Keystone/SDA
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