Comings and goings of the UK’s transatlantic trading

The UK’s trading relationship with the US is fair and balanced”, Downing Street insisted after Donald Trump said that the UK was out of line”.

- IAN JONES

The prime minister trusts Mr Trump to keep his word, No 10 said after the US president suggested he thinks a deal can be "worked out" to avoid slapping tariffs on the UK. Mr Trump suggested in comments overnight that he is poised to expand his tariff regime to both the UK and the EU, but added that he thinks a deal can be done with Britain.

The looming prospect of a trade war with the US threatened to overshadow Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with EU chiefs in Brussels yesterday. Asked by the BBC if he will target the UK with tariffs, Mr Trump said: “[The] UK is out of line but I’m sure that one… I think that one can be worked out.”

Here is a look at how much trade the UK has with the US, based on figures published by the Office for National Statistics.

How much is exported and imported?

A total of 15.3 per cent of all goods exported from the UK in 2023 went to the United States, the latest year for which data is available.

This makes the US the UK’s largest export partner, with Germany second (8.6 per cent of all UK goods exports), the Netherlands third (7.8 per cent), Ireland fourth (7.1 per cent) and France fifth (6.3 per cent).