For the first time, Switzerland exports more to the United States than Germany
Exports to the United States have been growing faster than Germany over the years. One sector is primarily responsible for this growth.
Containers are loaded at the container terminal in the Swiss Rhine port, which is one of the most important freight transshipment points in Switzerland.
Photo: Gaten Bally (Keystone)
Switzerland’s foreign trade has undergone a remarkable turnaround: For the first time in 70 years, the United States has ousted Germany as the most important market for Swiss exports, Swiss Customs announced Tuesday.
“Over the past twenty years, exports to the USA have tripled and reached their current high of 47 billion francs in 2021,” writes the Federal Customs Office. From 2001 to 2021, trade in goods with the United States went “through the roof”: despite the financial and COVID crises, exports to the United States grew by an average of 6.3 percent per year. Germany’s exports grew by an average of 2.1 percent over the same period, with Italy’s exports growing by 2 percent.
For comparison: Swiss companies exported 44 billion CHF worth of goods and services to Germany last year. China bought Swiss goods worth 15.5 billion Swiss francs last year.
The fact that the United States is now the most important buyer of Swiss exports, ahead of Germany, can be traced back to one area: the pharmaceutical industry. Three quarters of export growth can be attributed to pharmaceutical products, explains Customs.
The figures are impressive: while Switzerland exported chemical-pharmaceutical products worth 4.3 billion Swiss francs in 2001, exports last year exceeded 30 billion Swiss francs. Thus the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry accounts for 64 percent of exports to the United States. One reason for the strong growth last year is the export of vaccines that Moderna has manufactured by Lonza in Switzerland.
Germany leads in terms of trading volume
Strong growth in pharmaceutical exports meant that the share of other sectors in US exports fell, even though their export volumes grew in absolute terms.
Example: Between 2001 and 2021, Swiss watchmakers were able to double their exports to the United States from CHF 1.6 billion to a good CHF 3 billion. However, due to the huge increase in pharmaceutical exports, watch exports accounted for half of total exports to the United States.
According to the German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, in terms of total trade volume – that is, exports and imports together – Germany remained Switzerland’s most important trading partner last year, amounting to CHF 99 billion.
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