This House of Lords Library Briefing contains information on the UK’s international trade, both by country (or area, such as the EU) and by type of commodity or service being traded.
UK Trade by Country and Commodity or Service (309 KB , PDF)
In 2017 the UK ran a trade deficit in goods of £137 billion, partially offset by a surplus in services of £112 billion. Considering trade by country or region, the US was the UK’s single largest partner country. However, the EU as a bloc was bigger, accounting for 53 percent of imports and 44 percent of exports.
Looking at trends in trade balances over time, since 1998 the trade deficit in goods has increased nearly ninefold, largely due to an increasing deficit with EU countries. Over a similar period, the trade surplus on services has increased more than eightfold, in this case largely because of an increasing surplus with countries outside the EU.
Turning to country-by-commodity data, the briefing illustrates trends relating to motor cars, chemicals/pharmaceuticals and cereals. Considering cars, the most noticeable trend is the emergence of the Chinese market, which was insignificant as a destination for UK exports in 1996 but now ranks as second only to the US. Within chemicals/pharmaceuticals, overall trade has increased much faster than inflation, but with some individual countries showing quite different trends. Looking at cereals, the EU is the destination for a large (and rising) majority of exports and is also the source of a (decreasing) majority of imports.
Finally, turning to services, financial services is the largest specific category of exports, while travel is the largest category of imports. Within financial services, the USA is the UK’s largest trading partner, taking more than double the share of imports and exports as any other country.
UK Trade by Country and Commodity or Service (309 KB , PDF)
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
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