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Martin Saladin, Head of the Promotion Activities Directorate at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO, the Swiss government, on Wednesday said that Switzerland is shifting its focus towards India as a strategic economic partner amid the US trade tariffs.
On US tariffs, Saladin said, "This is a concern. Obviously, Switzerland has also very high tariffs at the moment with 39 per cent. That's certainly a challenge. At the same time, it's an opportunity. Because what we are trying, or what we are doing, and have been doing over the years, is diversifying markets. India is a huge priority in our diversification strategy." Notably, Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest duties imposed by US President Donald Trump's administration, with a 39% tariff rate implemented in August. It came after a Swiss delegation led by the country's President, Karin Keller-Sutter, failed to secure a trade deal following a meeting with Trump in Washington, DC. Regarding investment priorities, he noted that Switzerland is seeking greater collaboration in sectors such as railways, ropeways, and tunnelling technology. "We have just entered into force our free trade agreement between EFTA and India, with Switzerland, as part of EFTA, being very interested. We have an objective for investments under that TEPA agreement, and we count on India to facilitate. India counts on Switzerland to promote investments, so this visit here of these two or three days is inserting itself very much into that agenda," he added. The India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), signed on 10 March 2024 in New Delhi, came into force on 1 October 2025, marking a defining moment in India's external trade policy. This is India's first Free Trade Agreement with four developed European nations, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, and one of the most ambitious in scale and intent. It represents a strategic convergence between India's Atmanirbhar Bharat vision and EFTA's search for resilient, diversified partnerships. The agreement consists of 14 chapters, focusing on key areas such as market access for goods, rules of origin, trade facilitation, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, investment promotion, services, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development, and other legal and horizontal provisions. At its core, the agreement envisions unlocking USD 100 billion in investments and creating one million direct jobs in India over the next fifteen years, marking it as one of the most forward-looking trade partnerships in the country's economic history. During his visit to Switzerland in June, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal invited Swiss firms to join India's USD 30 trillion economy push by 2047. (ANI)
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