Switzerland's Artieda on US-Swiss Trade Deal

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Transcript

00:00Helen, you just struck a deal with the United States. Tell us how that went.

00:04It went.

00:05I hear the laughter around the room.

00:09No, I think for Switzerland, two things are absolutely key.

00:13For Switzerland, we're 9 million people, so a relatively small country,

00:17but we have managed to become the 20th largest market economy.

00:22So visibly, we need to be able to manage access to large markets.

00:26And so we're relieved that we managed to finally clinch a trade deal at 15% all-in or unstacked, as some call it.

00:39And that puts us at par with some of our main competitors, which is primarily our neighbors, the EU.

00:47But equally important for us is to continuously work on framework conditions in Switzerland.

00:52You know, we're often rated to be one of the most innovative countries,

00:57so that means that we have to invest into research and development in our public universities,

01:05have an excellent educational system, infrastructure, and so on.

01:10And then I think the big thing currently is the administrative burden,

01:13and getting the balance between wanting to protect the climate and making progress,

01:20but then not losing out on cost.

01:23I think that's the other challenge, I would say.