Baldwin attributes the severe and synchronous slump in goods exports to two main factors: first, the uncertainty that was triggered simultaneously around the world by the collapse of Lehman Brothers; second, the strong internationalisation of the value chain. The former led to a concurrent drop in demand, particularly for consumer durables, while the latter resulted in the goods trade volume reacting disproportionately to changes in production. This is because a product can cross national borders several times during the manufacturing process. Demand for services remained relatively robust, however, with the exception of financial services. Cf. also Ingo Borchert and Aaditya Mattoo (2010): Services trade – the collapse that wasn’t. BIS Review 157/2010  1  more, the recovery observed since mid-last year has been comparatively brisk. As a result, by mid-2010, Swiss goods exports had recouped almost two-thirds of the losses suffered. The Swiss National Bank’s decisive action undoubtedly contributed to the fact that the Swiss economy as a whole emerged from the crisis relatively unscathed. The SNB didn’t hesitate to lower interest rates decisively and – like other central banks – to employ unconventional monetary policy measures when required by the legal mandate, once the room for manoeuvre using the traditional interest rate instrument had been exhausted. In particular, we created additional liquidity through the purchase of foreign currency. In doing so, we resisted extreme exchange rate developments that could have initiated a deflationary dynamic and would have had devastating consequences for the Swiss economy.
This divergence in the regional focus becomes even more apparent when Asia is viewed as a whole. This is because Switzerland maintains far closer trade ties with Asia’s industrialised countries than the EU does, particularly with the four Asian tiger economies of Hong Kong,  6  The USD value of goods exports to developing and emerging economies (excluding the tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) has grown by an average of 7.5% since 1990, i.e. it has quadrupled. Goods exports to industrialised counties increased by 4.7% annually during the same period, representing an increase by a factor of only 2.5. 7  From 1990 to 2008, the GDP of developing and emerging economies rose by an average of almost 8% (China alone grew by more than 10%). The GDP of the EU15, by contrast, rose by just 1.9% on average (US: 2.7%). 8  The USD value of Swiss goods exports to emerging Asia (excluding the tiger economies) has grown by an average of 9.1% since 1990 (since 2000: 18%). The corresponding growth rates for Germany amounted to 11.4% (since 2000: 17.8%), and for the EU, 9.6% (since 2000: 13.6%). 9  Including intra-EU trade. BIS Review 157/2010  3  Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Overall, Switzerland’s share of exports to Asia, including Japan, came to 15% last year – more than twice the EU average. 10 Furthermore, Switzerland is one of the few European countries – alongside Ireland, Sweden and Finland – to run a trade surplus with Asia.