{"id":118377,"date":"2026-08-21T08:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/118377\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:08:13","slug":"china-switzerland-reach-agreement-on-upgraded-free-trade-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/118377\/","title":{"rendered":"China, Switzerland reach agreement on upgraded free trade deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">China and Switzerland have completed negotiations on an upgraded free trade agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Swiss Federal President and Minister for Economic Affairs, Education and Research Guy Parmelin and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao announced the conclusion of the talks after a meeting in Bern.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">The China-Switzerland free trade agreement was signed in July 2013 and came into effect in July 2014. It was the first free trade agreement between China and a major continental European country.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">In September 2024, the two countries formally launched negotiations to modernize and expand the pact.<\/p>\n<p>      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8495307_1787289408002_a.jpg.webp\" class=\"image-lightbox\" data-fancybox=\"gallery-mainpost\" data-caption=\"China, Switzerland reach agreement on upgraded free trade deal\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8495307_1787289408002_a.jpg.webp\" alt=\"China, Switzerland reach agreement on upgraded free trade deal\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"14\">China, Switzerland reach agreement on upgraded free trade deal<\/p>\n<p>      <\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the government&#8217;s long-dated bond buyback could be more than the recently announced 4 billion U.S. dollars, sparking concerns over rising inflation and mounting pressures on the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">The U.S. Treasury announced Wednesday that it would at least double the size of its buyback program for 10- to 30-year Treasury bonds, aiming to provide more liquidity support to the long end of the market and curb the unsettling surge of treasury yields.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Bessent revealed in an interview on Thursday that the size of the buyback could be more than 4 billion U.S. dollars per issue, but didn&#8217;t provide a specific number, saying the figure will depend on market conditions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">U.S. Treasury yields dropped following Bessent&#8217;s statement. However, for the whole day, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 4 basis points to 4.69 percent, while the 30-year bond yield increased by 4 basis points to 5.24 percent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Speaking of the national debt, which has more than doubled in a decade to surpass the 40-trillion-U.S.-dollar mark, Bessent downplayed the milestone by emphasizing long-term economic expansion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">&#8220;There&#8217;s nothing magic about the 40-trillion number,&#8221; he said, asserting the U.S. will grow its way out of this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Market analysts have warned that the intervention risk fueling inflation and complicating the Fed&#8217;s monetary policy work.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">They predict the Treasury will fund the buyback program by issuing short-term debt, an operation of replacing issuance of longer-term debt with shorter-term bills to curb long-term bond yields.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">When the Treasury relies more on short-term debt, it becomes more sensitive to changes in interest rates. Once the Fed raises interest rates, the government&#8217;s interest payments will increase rapidly, further driving up the total size of the national debt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Therefore, analysts believe the buyback program is not a good solution to market problems, as structural debt pressures have already been out of the control of the Treasury and the government.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" class=\"font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"16\">Investors are also skeptical that the Treasury&#8217;s intervention can provide a lasting market relief. If the measure proves ineffective, it could further undermine the credibility the dollar and the Treasury.<\/p>\n<p>      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8495349_1787296876002_a.jpg.webp\" class=\"image-lightbox\" data-fancybox=\"gallery-nextpost\" data-caption=\"US bond buyback expansion could fuel inflation, complicate Fed\u2019s monetary policy work: analysts\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8495349_1787296876002_a.jpg.webp\" alt=\"US bond buyback expansion could fuel inflation, complicate Fed\u2019s monetary policy work: analysts\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption font-size-scaler-control\" data-font=\"14\">US bond buyback expansion could fuel inflation, complicate Fed\u2019s monetary policy work: analysts<\/p>\n<p>      <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China and Switzerland have completed negotiations on an upgraded free trade agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[3216,351,17],"class_list":["post-118377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-cctvplus-news","tag-china","tag-switzerland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117132479968478842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}