Switzerland Is Getting Squeezed Between China and the US
The country’s go-it-alone approach looks increasingly untenable in a changed geopolitical environment.
Switzerland was one of the first Western countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China in 1950.
Photographer: Peter Klaunzer/AFP/Getty Images
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Back in 2013, several dozen Swiss business representatives traveled to Beijing to attend the signing of a free-trade agreement between Switzerland and China, toasting the success with champagne.
Implemented the following year, the FTA was hailed in a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP report at the time as a landmark accord that “recasts the international trade landscape” and might even contribute to “a re-industrialization of Switzerland.”