Switzerland - EU Bern convenes special meeting with Brussels on EU trade policy
Representatives from Bern met with the European Commission on Thursday for an extraordinary meeting on free trade. The Confederation had demanded that Brussels make an exception to planned EU protective measures on metals.
29.01.2026, 15:58
SDA
The extraordinary meeting of the Joint Committee on the Free Trade Agreement between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) took place in Brussels at Switzerland's request, as announced by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) on Thursday. The planned EU protective measures on steel and ferro-alloys in particular were the subject of discussion.
The EU is planning new steel measures by June 30 at the latest. Switzerland has now demanded "once again" that it be exempted from this. The reason given by Seco was the non-restriction of "established regional supply chains", which are of crucial importance for the European industrial economy.
The EU is only planning exemptions for the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA): Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
