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Post-Brexit arrangements From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Following its withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom began negotiations on several free trade agreements to remove or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, both to establish new agreements and to replace previous EU trade agreements. Withdrawal ended 47 years of membership during which all its trading agreements were negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the bloc. The UK did not actually withdraw from the European Single Market and the European Union Customs Union (and its trade agreements) until 31 December 2020.
These treaties are divided into two types of free trade agreements: continuity agreements and 'new' agreements. Continuity agreements, also named rollover agreements, make use of a mutatis mutandis concept in order to quickly replicate the existing EU agreements, only having to call out those minor areas of differentiation. Most continuity treaties were provisionally applied, or through a "bridging mechanism", thus continuity was achieved.[1] Trade agreements negotiated after Brexit are termed 'new', or enhanced agreements: these agreements have been negotiated from scratch or have been renegotiated to expand the deal since Brexit.[2]
As of December 2024[update], the United Kingdom has 39 active free trade agreements with nations and trade blocs, covering 102 countries and territories.[3][1] Five of these are 'new' trade agreements, such as with Australia and New Zealand.[4] The UK is also a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The remaining 33 are continuity agreements. Furthermore, the UK has a customs union with its three Crown Dependencies.[5] The UK has further arrangements covering free trade with its 14 British Overseas Territories.[6]
The United Kingdom has only suspended negotiations for a trade deal on one occasion; it suspended negotiations for a post-Brexit Canada Free Trade Agreement on 25 January 2024.[7]
According to UK law the United Kingdom Parliament has the power to pass law in all policy areas.[8]
The UK's negotiating team will consult with its Strategic Trade Advisory Group throughout the negotiations.[9]
The responsibility for concluding treaties involving the UK lies with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. This remains the case even when the negotiation of the treaty is led by another government department.[10]
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office's legal advisers and Treaty Section:
Unless expressly authorised to do so by the United Kingdom government, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories do not have the authority to contract treaties in their own right. The UK must extend the territorial scope of its ratification of treaties to include them. This may be done either at the time of ratification, or at some later date.[10]
The following bilateral and plurilateral agreements are currently in effect. Signature and entry into force dates are as listed by the World Trade Organization.[3]
| Nation(s) | No. of nations represented |
Signed | Effective | Coverage | Treaty | Mechanism[1] | Trade value (2023)[1][11] |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Albania |
1 | 5 February 2021 | 3 May 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £362m | [12][13] |
Andean Countries Colombia[a] Ecuador Peru |
3 | 15 May 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £4,051m | [15][16] |
 Cameroon |
1 | 28 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,029m | [17][18] |
CARIFORUM Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Guyana Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname[b] Trinidad and Tobago |
14 | 22 March 2019[c] | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Provisional application | £5,537m | [21][22] |
Central America Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama |
6 | 18 July 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £2,478m | [23][24] |
Eastern and Southern Africa Madagascar[d] Mauritius Seychelles Zimbabwe |
4 | 31 January 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £2,027m[e] | [26][27] |
 Egypt |
1 | 5 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £4,659m | [28][29] |
 European Union |
31[j] | 30 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | New | Full ratification | £823,100m | [30][31] |
 Faroe Islands |
1 | 31 January 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,108m | [32][33] |
 Georgia |
1 | 21 October 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £500m | [34][35] |
 Ghana |
1 | 2 March 2021 | 5 March 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Provisional application | £1,188m | [36][37] |
 Iceland Liechtenstein[k] Norway |
3 | 8 July 2021 | 1 December 2021 | Goods & Services | New | Provisional application | £41,537m[l] | [38][39] |
 Israel |
1 | 18 February 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £6,137m | [40][41] |
 Ivory Coast |
1 | 15 October 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £841m | [42][43] |
 Jordan |
1 | 5 November 2019 | 1 May 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,313m | [44][45] |
 Kenya |
1 | 8 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,427m | [46][47] |
 Kosovo |
1 | 3 December 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £12m | [48][33] |
 Lebanon |
1 | 19 September 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,131m | [49][50] |
Liechtenstein[m] Switzerland |
2 | 11 February 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £50,817m[n] | [52][53] |
 Moldova |
1 | 24 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,478m | [54][55] |
 Morocco |
1 | 26 October 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Provisional application | £3,524m | [56][57] |
 North Macedonia |
1 | 3 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Provisional application | £2,507m | [58][59] |
Pacific States Fiji Papua New Guinea Samoa[o] Solomon Islands[p] |
4 | 14 March 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Provisional application | £390m | [62][63] |
 Palestinian Authority |
1 | 18 February 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £38m | [64][65] |
 Serbia |
1 | 16 April 2021 | 20 May 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £1,018m | [66][67] |
 South Korea |
1 | 22 August 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Full ratification | £16,331m | [68][69] |
Southern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique Botswana Eswatini Lesotho Mozambique Namibia South Africa |
6 | 9 October 2019[q] | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £11,420m | [71][72] |
 Tunisia |
1 | 4 October 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Full ratification | £693m | [73][74] |
 Turkey |
1 | 29 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | Provisional application | £25,817m | [75][76] |
 Ukraine |
1 | 8 October 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity[r] | Full ratification | £1,523m | [79][80] |
 Vietnam |
1 | 29 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | Provisional application | £5,859m | [81][82] |
The United Kingdom is currently a member of one trade bloc, which includes multilateral free trade with fellow members.
| Trade bloc | No. of nations represented |
Signed | Effective | Coverage | Trade value[83] | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Australia[s] Brunei Canada[t] Chile Japan Malaysia Mexico[t] New Zealand Peru Singapore Vietnam |
11 | 16 July 2023 | 15 December 2024 | Goods & Services | £121,355m | [84][85] |
The following agreements govern the United Kingdom's free trade with British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
| Nation(s) | No. of nations represented |
Signed | Effective | Coverage | Treaty | Trade value (2023)[83] |
Comment | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Akrotiri and Dhekelia |
31 | 30 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | New | £823,100m | Trade with the UK is governed within the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, due to Akrotiri and Dhekelia remaining a part of the European Union customs union. | [86][87] |
Crown Dependencies Customs Union Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey |
3 | 26 November 2018 | 9 December 2020 | Goods & Services | New | £13,153m | The United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies established a customs union which created a free trade area between the territories, and creates a common external tariff with other countries. | [88][5] |
 Gibraltar |
1 | 24 October 2019 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | Continuity | £7,236m | Trade with Gibraltar is governed under the 'Financial Services and Markets Act 2000', Gibraltar and the UK amended this act in order to continue the agreement they had in the European Economic Area. | [89] |
Overseas Territories Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Montserrat Pitcairn Islands  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands |
12 | 9 November 2020 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | Continuity | £10,591m | This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between 12 Overseas Territories and the UK. | [6][90] |
The United Kingdom is currently negotiating free trade agreements with the following countries and trade blocs:[4]
| Nation (s) | No of nations represented |
Coverage | Treaty | Trade value (2023)[1][83] | Status | Progress | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Algeria |
1 | Goods | Continuity | £2,303m | Negotiations stagnated | A continuity trade agreement has been offered to Algeria; neither party has signed the agreement. | [91] |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
1 | Goods & Services | Continuity | £255m | Negotiations stagnated | A continuity trade agreement has been offered to Bosnia and Herzegovina; neither party has signed the agreement. | [92][91] |
| Canada |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £26,287m | Negotiations suspended | Negotiations suspended on 25 January 2024 by the United Kingdom; the two sides have completed eight rounds of talks since 2022. | [93][94] |
 Greenland |
1 | Goods | New | £12m | Negotiations stagnated | Negotiations opened on 27 January 2022. | [95][96] |
 Gulf Cooperation Council Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates |
6 | Goods & Services | New | £57,433m | Negotiations ongoing | Sixth round of negotiations concluded on 9 February 2024. | [97][98] |
 India |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £38,978m | Negotiations ongoing | Fourteenth round of negotiations concluded on 15 March 2024. | [99][100] |
| Israel |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £6,137m | Negotiations ongoing | Fifth round of negotiations concluded on 17 April 2024. | [101][102] |
 Maldives |
1 | Goods | New | £492m | Discussions ongoing | Trade consultation closed on 2 August 2023. | [103][104] |
| Mexico |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £6,599m | Negotiations ongoing | Third round of negotiations concluded on 19 May 2023. | [105][106] |
 Montenegro |
1 | Goods & Services | Continuity | £156m | Negotiations stagnated | A continuity trade agreement has been offered to Montenegro; neither party has signed the agreement. | [92][91] |
| South Korea |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £18,349m | Negotiations ongoing | Second round of negotiations concluded on 22 March 2024. | [107][108] |
| Switzerland |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £50,817m | Negotiations ongoing | Fifth round of negotiations concluded on 18 October 2024. | [109][110] |
 Thailand |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £6,026m | Discussions ongoing | Enhanced Trade Partnership signed on 18 September 2024; exploratory FTA talks ongoing. | [111][112] |
| Turkey |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £25,817m | Negotiations ongoing | Negotiations opened on 14 March 2024. | [113][114] |
 United States |
1 | Goods & Services | New | £310,840m | Negotiations stagnated | Fifth round of negotiations concluded on 30 October 2020. | [115][116] |
The following countries have applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade bloc of which the United Kingdom is a member of.
| Country | Application | Negotiations opened | Status | Bilateral trade value (2023)[1][83] | Existing FTA | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 China |
16 September 2021 | N/A | Formal application submitted | £90,243 | N/A | [117][118] |
| Costa Rica |
11 August 2022 | 29 November 2024 | Invitation to join received | £1,143 | Central America–UK Association Agreement | [119][120] |
| Ecuador |
29 December 2021 | N/A | Formal application submitted | £475 | Andean Countries–UK Trade Continuity Agreement | [121][122] |
 Indonesia |
19 September 2024 | N/A | Formal application submitted | £2,999 | N/A | [123][124] |
 Taiwan |
22 September 2021 | N/A | Formal application submitted under the name of "The Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (TPKM)." |
£7,433 | N/A | [125][126] |
| Ukraine |
5 May 2023 | N/A | Formal application submitted | £1,523m | Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement | [127][128] |
 Uruguay |
1 December 2022 | N/A | Formal application submitted | £409 | N/A | [129][130] |
The following countries can accede to an existing plurilateral Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Kingdom.
| Nation(s) | Trade agreement being joined |
Status | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
 Haiti |
CARIFORUM | Haiti will be covered by the CARIFORUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement if they sign it and bring it into effect. | [131] |
 Comoros Zambia |
Eastern and Southern Africa | Out of the remaining COMESA members, Comoros, and Zambia have agreements in place allowing them to join the ESA–UK Economic Partnership Agreement: | [132][25] |
 East African Community Burundi DR Congo Rwanda Somalia South Sudan Tanzania Uganda |
Kenya |
Article 143 of the UK–Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement enables any other East African Community member to make an accession request to the UK–Kenya EPA Council. | [133][134] |
 Cook Islands Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru Niue Palau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu |
Pacific States | The Pacific States–UK Economic Partnership Agreement states that 10 other Pacific nations are currently eligible to apply for accession.
|
[135] |
The following free trade agreements were previously active, however they have since been superseded or terminated. Signature, entry into force and obsolete dates are as listed by the World Trade Organization.[3]
| Nation(s) | No of nations represented |
Signed | Effective | Obsolete | Coverage | Note | Superseded by | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ireland |
1 | 19 December 1965 | 1 July 1966 | 1 January 1973 | Goods | The Ireland–United Kingdom Free Trade Area was agreed to after both nations' bids to join the European Economic Community were rejected. This agreement was superseded upon both parties' accession to the EEC. | European Economic Community |
[136][137] |
| Colombia |
1 | 18 October 2019 | 1 January 2021 | 28 June 2022 | Goods & Services | The Colombia–UK Trade Continuity Agreement was provisionally applied until Colombia could ratify the Andean–UK Trade Continuity Agreement, which superseded this agreement. | Andean Countries Colombia Ecuador Peru |
[138] |
| Iceland Norway |
2 | 8 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | 1 September 2022 | Goods | Iceland–Norway–UK Trade Continuity Agreement was superseded by an updated FTA with Liechtenstein, which expanded the coverage to include services. | Iceland Liechtenstein Norway |
[139][140][141] |
 Australia |
1 | 16 December 2021 | 31 May 2023 | 15 December 2024 | Existing agreements made with individual countries were superseded by the CPTPP Agreement | CPTPP | [142] | |
 Canada |
1 | 22 December 2020 | 1 January 2021 | |||||
| Chile |
1 | 30 January 2019 | ||||||
| Japan |
1 | 23 October 2020 | ||||||
| Vietnam |
1 | 29 December 2020 | ||||||
| Singapore |
1 | 10 December 2020 | ||||||
| Mexico |
1 | 15 December 2020 | 1 June 2021 | |||||
| New Zealand |
1 | 28 February 2022 | 31 May 2023 |
The United Kingdom was previously a member of the following trade blocs, which include multilateral free trade with fellow members.
The following agreements are European Union free trade agreements, of which the United Kingdom was a party until Brexit; however continuity agreements were not reached to replace them.
| Nation (s) | No of nations represented |
Signed | Effective | Obsolete | Coverage | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria |
1 | 22 April 2002 | 1 September 2005 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | The UK has no free trade agreement with Algeria. | [150] |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
1 | 16 June 2008 | 1 June 2015 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | The UK has no free trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina. | [151][92] |
EU Overseas Countries and Territories Aruba Bonaire Curaçao French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Greenland New Caledonia Saba Saint Barthélemy Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Wallis and Futuna |
13 | 27 November 2001 | 2 December 2001 | 1 January 2021 | Goods | The UK has no free trade agreement with any of the EU Overseas Countries and Territories.
|
[152][153] |
| Montenegro |
1 | 15 October 2007 | 1 May 2010 | 1 January 2021 | Goods & Services | The UK has no free trade agreement with Montenegro. | [154][92] |
| Exports | Imports | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Trade Partner | £billions | % of Total | Rank | Trade Partner | £billions | % of Total |
| European Union |
356.3 | 41.4% | European Union |
450.9 | 51.5% | ||
| 1. | United States[ap] |
186.7 | 21.7% | 1. | United States |
115.4 | 13.2% |
| 2. |  Germany (EU member) |
63.0 | 7.3% | 2. | Germany (EU member) |
87.6 | 10.0% |
| 3. | Ireland (EU member) |
57.7 | 6.7% | 3. |  Netherlands (EU member) |
64.3 | 7.3% |
| 4. | Netherlands (EU member) |
52.5 | 6.1% | 4. | France (EU member) |
60.2 | 6.9% |
| 5. | France (EU member) |
44.6 | 5.2% | 5. | China |
59.4 | 6.8% |
| 6. | China |
33.3 | 3.9% | 6. |  Spain (EU member) |
41.2 | 4.7% |
| 7. | Switzerland (EFTA) |
30.2 | 3.5% | 7. |  Belgium (EU member) |
31.7 | 3.6% |
| 8. |  Italy (EU member) |
31.6 | 3.6% | 8. | Italy (EU member) |
31.6 | 3.6% |
| 9. | Spain (EU member) |
19.7 | 2.3% | 9. | Ireland (EU member) |
30.3 | 3.5% |
| 10. | Italy (EU member) |
18.9 | 2.2% | 10. | Norway (EFTA) |
30.2 | 3.4% |
| EU | 356.3 | 41.4% | EU | 450.9 | 51.5% | ||
| Non EU | 505.0 | 58.6% | Non EU | 425.4 | 48.5% | ||
| World | 861.2 | 100% | World | 876.3 | 100% | ||
Historically, WTO imports and exports are based on the rule of origin, while EU imports/exports are based on single market statistics.
The figures above are for 2023[155]
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
| Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
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