The National Security and Investment Bill 2019-21 was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019. It was introduced in the House of Commons on 11 November 2020. Its Second Reading took place on 17 November 2020, with remaining stages scheduled for Wednesday 20 January 2021.
Documents to download
-
Geographical pattern of UK trade (1 MB, PDF)
-
Supporting documents
- CBP-07593online (450 KB, Excel Spreadsheet) (450 KB, Excel Spreadsheet)
This note looks at the UK’s main trading partners over the last 10-20 years. The attached Excel spreadsheet (see under supporting documents) allows for easy access and presentation of data on UK trade with individual countries between 1999 and 2019.
The EU as a bloc is the UK’s largest trading partner. In 2019, it accounted for 43% of UK exports of goods and services and 52% of the UK’s imports. The EU’s share of UK exports has been falling in recent years: in 1999, the EU’s accounted for 55% of the UK’s total trade.
Looking at individual countries, the US is the UK’s largest trading partner. The UK exported £141 billion of goods and services to the US in 2019, 21% of all exports. This was more than double the value of exports to Germany, the UK’s second largest export market (£56 billion). 11 of the UK’s top 25 export markets in 2018 were EU member states, as were 11 of the top 25 countries from which the UK imports.
Trade with China has expanded rapidly in recent years. China now accounts for over 7% of UK imports compared with 2% in 1999 and is the UK’s fourth largest source of imports. The UK exported £30 billion of goods and services to China in 2019 making it the UK’s sixth largest export market.
The Commonwealth accounts for around 9% of UK trade. This proportion has remained reasonably stable over the last decade. UK trade with the Commonwealth is heavily concentrated on five Commonwealth countries – India, Australia, Canada, Singapore and South Africa.
Documents to download
-
Geographical pattern of UK trade (1 MB, PDF)
-
Supporting documents
- CBP-07593online (450 KB, Excel Spreadsheet) (450 KB, Excel Spreadsheet)
Related posts
-
-
This briefing summarises amendments made to the Trade Bill 2019-21 in the House of Lords, ahead of amendments coming back to the Commons for the start of ping-pong.
-
Ireland is one of the UK's largest trading partners. This note gives some key statistics on UK-Ireland trade.