Collection

The UK’s trade agreements

Find out which trade agreements the UK has signed and which the UK is negotiating.

From:
Department for Business and Trade and Department for International Trade
Published
2 March 2020
Last updated
30 November 2022 — See all updates

Trade agreements set out the rules for buying and selling goods and services between 2 or more countries. They reduce restrictions on imports and exports, which can make trading easier and cheaper when they are used.

Trade agreements in force

As an independent trading nation, the UK now has over 70 trade agreements in place.

Recent trade agreements that have come into force include:

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement treaty covers all UK trade with the EU.

See all the trade agreements the UK has:

Trade agreements signed but not in force

These are the trade agreements that businesses can use soon, but that are not yet in force.

Once an agreement is reached, it is signed and then inspected by Parliament, where the agreement can then be ratified. It is then entered into force, which means it can be used by businesses trading with that country.

The UK recently signed agreements with Australia (16 December 2021) and New Zealand (28 February 2022).

The UK also signed agreements with Madagascar (4 November 2021) and Comoros (12 April 2022) under the economic partnership agreement with Eastern and Southern African countries (ESA).

Trade agreements we are negotiating

The UK is currently negotiating with several countries to draw up new agreements.

The UK’s priorities in 2022 include progressing negotiations with India, Canada, Mexico, Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

We are also continuing negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Trade agreement consultations

Before starting a new trade negotiation, we open a public consultation, seeking input on which aspects of our current trading arrangements to improve or amend.

We use this information to help inform our approach for starting negotiations on a trade agreement in the future.

Submit your responses to any open consultations, or read the outcomes to recently closed consultations, below.

Understand more about trade agreements

The government has established the Strategic Trade Advisory Group and a network of expert Trade Advisory Groups to support the development of our trade policy and negotiations.

To learn more about using trade agreements, you can:

Published 2 March 2020
Last updated 30 November 2022 + show all updates

  1. Addition of link to UK-Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement in 'Trade agreements we are negotiating' section.

  2. Full content redesign of page, and information updated throughout.

  3. Updated following a content review.

  4. Added a section for the trade agreement with the EU, with links to the agreement document (including summary explainer) and transition checker tool.

  5. Added documents on the UK's approach to negotiating free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand and on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

  6. Added the UK's approach to negotiating a free trade agreement with Japan.

  7. First published.

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