The first and immediate benefit of the SSFTA are practical opportunities resulting from exporters saving customs duties because of the substantial reductions in tariffs. The FTA created an annual savings potential for Swiss exporting firms worth several hundred million CHF (Ziltener, 2014), and well over 100 million were realized in 2017, on both the Chinese and Swiss sides. These significant amounts are expected to increase in the year 2018 and beyond.

The first and immediate benefit of the SSFTA are practical opportunities resulting from exporters saving customs duties because of the substantial reductions in tariffs. The FTA created an annual savings potential for Swiss exporting firms worth several hundred million CHF (Ziltener, 2014), and well over 100 million were realized in 2017, on both the Chinese and Swiss sides. These significant amounts are expected to increase in the year 2018 and beyond.

The EU’s interest in and engagement with North East Asia has grown massively over the last three decades, the shaping and implementation of its policy influenced heavily by the UK and its historical links with East Asia. Brexit therefore raises questions about the future of this engagement and comes against a background of wider threats to the liberal world order, especially rising tensions between the USA and China. Worried that they may be forced to choose sides in their hitherto carefully managed relationships with the two, China’s neighbours are therefore watching with interest to see how the EU and the UK respond and manage their future relations with the region. This book goes beyond the traditional trade links to consider diplomatic and security perspectives, as well as wider issues such as the possible impact on educational and research links. It will be of interest to diplomats, scholars, and economists.

Global supply chain integration is not only a rapidly growing feature of international trade, it is responsible for fundamentally changing trade policy at international and domestic levels. Given that final goods are produced with both domestic and foreign suppliers, Ka Zeng and Xiaojun Li argue that global supply chain integration pits firms and industries that are more heavily dependent on foreign supply chains against those that are less dependent on intermediate goods for domestic production. Hence, businesses whose supply chain would be disrupted as a result of increased trade barriers should lobby for preferential trade liberalization to maintain access to those foreign markets. Moreover, businesses whose products are used in the production of goods in foreign countries should also support preferential trade liberalization to compete with suppliers from other parts of the world. Fragmenting Globalization uses multiple methods, including time series, cross-sectional analysis of the pattern of Preferential Trade Alliance formation by existing World Trade Organization members, a firm-level survey, and case studies of the pattern of corporate support for regional trade liberalization in both China and the United States. Zeng and Li show that the growing fragmentation of global production, trade, and investment is altering trade policy away from the traditional divide between export-oriented and import-competing industries.

This book examines the economic, cultural and structural factors affecting China's economic growth, and expounds why China's economy has been so successful in the past, and the challenges that lie ahead for the country amidst the changing world, new challenges and uncertainties. The authors lay out their thoughts persuasively and powerfully, advocating changes that should be implemented in order to achieve a successful economic transformation of China's economy. Through an exchange of ideas among the four Chinese authors, each of whom hail from different backgrounds, practical solutions are presented in the book.

Recent research by the economics department at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) has found the utilization rates of the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement (SSFTA) to be relatively low on both the Chinese and Swiss side, despite the mammoth amount in tariffs payed that could be saved. In light of this, this thesis focuses on developing a theoretically backed and practically tested survey questionnaire, in both English and Chinese, to measure firm utilization and firm expectations. Based on survey methodology and data collection literature, a survey development framework is established. This framework is then applied to create a questionnaire on the SSFTA. In addition to analysing a myriad of surveys on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), several internal and external experts on FTAs and survey methodology are consulted, to warrant the legitimacy of the survey questions. The survey link is then sent to several individuals in a preliminary round of pre-tests. The feedback gained from the pre-test is then integrated into the questionnaire. As a result, the Sino-Swiss Competence Centre (SSCC) at HSG has a survey at its disposal, which can be distributed in Switzerland and in China to continue research on this topic.

The focus of this paper is the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement. Which is also called the Swiss Chinese Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This paper aims to give a compact overview of the Sino-Swiss FTA. It looks at the impact this FTA has had on the Swiss economy and the Swiss political landscape. Furthermore, it will bring about the unique position and situation Switzerland is in whilst having an FTA with China during a trade war between China and the United States of America.