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Secretary of State for Business and Trade visit to China factsheet

Updated 12 September 2025

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The Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle visited China on 10 to 11 September 2025 to co-chair the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission with Minister Wang Wentao and the UK-China Industrial Cooperation Dialogue with Minister Li Lecheng. He also held a bilateral meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng.

He discussed challenges in the bilateral relationship with counterparts including level playing-field issues that undermine fair competition for UK business. He raised concerns on national and economic security issues, including the provision of military support to Russia by Chinese companies and rare earth export controls that impact supply chains, and challenged the Chinese government on the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and human rights concerns.

Market access

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade’s visit has pushed forward market access outcomes worth over £1 billion[footnote 1] over 5 years, including in:

  • pet food: the UK and China signed a pet food protocol enabling UK companies to export pet food to China for the first time
  • live spiny lobsters: the UK welcomed China’s decision to expedite UK live spiny lobsters (palinurus elephas) access to China
  • porcine genetics: the UK and China welcomed the decision to register UK porcine semen (genetics) centres for export to China
  • cattle hides and sheep skins: the UK welcomed the publishing of UK cattle hides and sheep skin establishments on the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China’s (GACC) list of approved establishments
  • auto certification and testing: both sides will continue cooperation to simplify testing and certification requirements for automotive companies, including UK small volume manufacturers (SVM)
  • qualifications: the UK welcomed China’s decision to publish qualification recognition, including for UK qualification providers to be recognised in Shanghai
  • sports: the UK welcomed continued cooperation with China on sports ground safety standards, to promote opportunities for UK sporting events to take place in China

Exports

New figures published earlier this week showed the government supported close to £2 billion in exports to China over the previous financial year, including in advanced manufacturing, creative industries, retail and healthcare.

UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade used the first UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) since 2018 to discuss a range of bilateral and global trade issues, including business environment and market access issues impacting UK business, as well as World Trade Organization (WTO) reform. Both sides acknowledged the importance of maintaining open dialogue on national security implications of economic links.

Trade in services

Both sides agreed that bilateral services trade is a key area to promote cooperation. Both sides will:

  • hold further discussions to explore options on how to strengthen bilateral services trade
  • convene the second UK-China Trade in Services Working Group in November 2025 to shape future cooperation on services trade, with a particular focus on professional services and addressing market access barriers

New memorandums of understanding and joint working groups

To enhance bilateral communication on trade and investment, the UK and China have established through new memorandums of understanding (MoUs):

  • WTO Working Group: to facilitate discussion on issues facing the WTO, including the need for WTO reform to support the multilateral trading system
  • Health Innovation Platform: to drive UK-China commercial healthcare collaborations and align industry standards
  • Trade Remedies Exchange: to enhance transparency and provide a dedicated forum for discussions on each country’s trade remedy policies

Business environment

Both sides agreed to maintain communication on level playing field and business environment issues such as:

  • bilateral investment
  • export controls
  • technical standards
  • digital trade and cross-border data flows
  • government procurement

The British Standards Institute (BSI) and Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) intend to establish a UK-China Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) Standards Working Group to cooperate on technical standards that facilitate trade.

Sectoral cooperation

The UK and China will continue discussions exploring the potential establishment of MoUs in the following areas:

  • technical and vocational education and training
  • cosmetics
  • sport
  • food safety
  • cultural and creative industries
  • testing and certification

Regional healthcare education

The UK has established MoUs with 3 key Chinese municipalities and regions: Chongqing, Hangzhou and Fujian Province. The agreements aim to promote and create opportunities for UK industry participation in their fast-evolving healthcare systems.

UK-China Industrial Cooperation Dialogue

During the second UK-China Industrial Cooperation Dialogue (ICD) the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology agreed to:

  • establish a Regulatory and Standards Sub-Working Group of the UK-China Automotive Working Group, to promote discussion on regulation and standards setting
  • establish a UK-China Industrial Decarbonisation Working Group, to focus on accelerating decarbonisation of UK and Chinese industry, and to identify opportunities for commercial collaboration in relevant subsectors linked to industrial decarbonisation, such as CCUS
  • establish a UK-China Digital Economy Working Group to facilitate exchange on the UK and China’s respective national policies, promoting clarity and transparency
  • recommit to the industry-led UK-China Industrial Cooperation Partnership (ICP) in strengthening exchanges, sharing best practices and conducting business matching between Chinese and UK businesses in automotive, digital economy and industrial decarbonisation

  1. The aggregate figure of more than £1 billion over 5 years is for 7 market access barriers. To calculate the aggregate figures, the mid-point for each valuation range is estimated over a 5-year period and added to provide a central estimate. This figure represents additional exports to UK businesses on the resolution of the market access barriers. See the DBT analytical working paper for further details on the methodology for the aggregate valuation figures. ↩

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