Value of trade in goods exported from the UK 2023, by leading commodities

Cars were the most valuable type of commodity exported from the United Kingdom in 2023, with exports of this commodity valued at approximately 36.6 billion British pounds. Mechanical power generators were the second-most valuable commodity in 2023, with an export value of around 34.5 billion pounds in this year. By comparison, the most valuable import commodity was also cars, amounting to over 40.2 billion British pounds. The next most valuable import commodity was refined oil at over 28.2 million pounds in this year. Brexit and EU tradeAt the start of 2021, the United Kingdom exited both the European Single Market and the European Customs Union, with the UK's trading relationship with the EU now determined by a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Although the TCA continued tariff and quota-free goods trade between the EU and UK, a number of customs checks came into force, increasing trade friction between the two parties. The status of Northern Ireland in the initial agreement was also different than the rest of the UK. Goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain were initially subject to customs checks, in order to prevent customs checks occurring at the border with the Republic of Ireland. In February 2023, it was announced that under a new EU-UK agreement called the Windsor Framework, some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain will be subject to fewer checks.UK main trading partnersAlthough the share of both imports and exports from the European Union has been declining recently, the single market is still by far the UK's main trading partner. In terms of individual countries, the United States was the main export partner in 2023 at 15.7 percent of all exports, while Germany had the highest share of UK imports at 12.7 percent in 2023. A main argument of the Leave vote, was that the UK should seek to improve up its trade with the rest of the world, outside of Europe. The success of this 'Global Britain' strategy, depends on the UK significantly scaling up its trade with other continents, with countries outside of Europe still responsible for far less trade than European ones.

2023年，汽车成为英国出口价值最高的商品类型，其出口总额约为366亿英镑。机械动力发电机位居第二，今年出口价值约为345亿英镑。相较之下，最具价值的进口商品亦为汽车，总额超过402亿英镑。次之，今年最昂贵的进口商品为精炼石油，价值超过2.82亿英镑。自2021年初英国退出欧洲单一市场和欧洲关税同盟以来，英国与欧盟的贸易关系由一项新的贸易与合作协定（TCA）所决定。尽管TCA继续保持了欧盟与英国之间无关税和配额的商品贸易，但一系列海关检查的实施加剧了双方之间的贸易摩擦。在最初协议中，北爱尔兰的地位与英国其他地区不同。从大不列颠进入北爱尔兰的货物最初需要接受海关检查，以防止在爱尔兰共和国边境发生海关检查。2023年2月，宣布根据一项名为温莎框架的新欧盟-英国协议，从英国进入北爱尔兰的一些商品将接受更少的检查。尽管近年来从欧盟的进出口份额一直在下降，但单一市场依然是英国的主要贸易伙伴。就个别国家而言，美国在2023年成为英国的主要出口伙伴，占所有出口的15.7%，而德国在2023年成为英国进口份额最高的国家，占比12.7%。离开投票的主要论点之一是，英国应寻求改善与欧洲以外的其他地区的贸易。‘全球英国’策略的成功，取决于英国显著扩大与其他大陆的贸易，而欧洲以外的国家在贸易中所占的比重仍然远低于欧洲。