Download or read book The Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement - General Survey, Critical Analysis and Future Development written by Fabian Hess and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Switzerland and China signed a bilateral Free Trade Agreement in the summer of 2013. The interest of the different stakeholders was large and the expectations of its impacts were high. This thesis provides a general survey of the very much discussed FTA and a gap analysis, which shows, to what extent the high expectations were met. Afterwards, the development of future requirements will reveal the further improvements that might be applied to enhance the significance of the agreement. Besides a short introduction to free trade theories, the general survey will include information about the free trade strategies of Switzerland and China as well as specific examples of previously concluded FTAs. Also the history and the economic relations between Switzerland and China will be explained. The qualitative gap analysis then shows that the effective impacts of the FTA were below the expectations. Especially difficul- ties with customs procedures in China and the creation of new non-tariff barriers to trade caused bad experiences. Finally, the further improvement of the agreement should particu- larly focus on resolving administrative issues and the inclusion of new content elements.