What does the UK trade with the United States?
The top commodity exported to the US by value is medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
The United States is one of the UK’s major trading partners, accounting for nearly a quarter of exports of chemicals and almost a third of crude oil imports.
Here the PA news agency looks 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% 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% of all UK goods exports), the Netherlands third (7.8%), Ireland fourth (7.1%) and France fifth (6.3%).
Some 10.0% of all goods imported to the UK in 2023 came from the US.
This ranks the US as the UK’s second largest import partner, behind Germany (responsible for 12.7% of UK goods imports) and ahead of China (9.7%), the Netherlands (9.1%) and France (7.1%).
Some £60.4 billion of goods were exported from the UK to the US in 2023, while £57.9 billion of goods were imported.
– What is exported?
Of the £60.4 billion of goods exported to the US in 2023, machinery and transport equipment accounted for the largest share, at £27.2 billion, ahead of chemicals (£14.2 billion) and materials (£4.2 billion).
The top commodity exported by value was medicinal and pharmaceutical products, accounting for £8.8 billion of US exports, followed by cars (£6.4 billion), mechanical power generators for intermediate sale (£5.2 billion), organic chemicals (£2.8 billion) and scientific instruments for sale as capital goods (£2.8 billion).
– What is imported?
Machinery and transport equipment also accounted for the largest share of goods imported to the UK from the US in 2023, at £19.9 billion, followed by fuel (£18.7 billion) and chemicals (£7.8 billion).
The number one commodity imported by value was crude oil, accounting for £8.5 billion of total goods imports.
Gas was in second place (£6.6 billion), followed by intermediate mechanical power generators (£5.5 billion), medicinal and pharmaceutical products (£3.8 billion) and refined oil (£3.4 billion).
– How dependent is the UK on the US?
Nearly a quarter (23.6%) of all the UK’s exports of chemicals went to the US in 2023, with the figure even higher for organic chemicals (27.8%), and medicinal and pharmaceutical products (33.9%).
Other commodities near the top of the list include animal oils and fats (25.8% of all exports), inorganic chemicals (21.6%), cars (18.4%) and aircraft (17.9%).
Overall, 17.1% of the UK’s machinery and transport equipment exports in 2023 went to the US, along with 15.9% of exports of beverages and tobacco, 5.2% of exports of food and live animals and 5.1% of exports of fuel.
By contrast, almost a third (31.9%) of all the UK’s crude oil imports in 2023 came from the US, with a similar figure for gas (31.2%).
Some 23.5% of all fuel imports in 2023 came from the US.
Commodities where the UK relied on the US for at least a quarter of imports included wood and cork (27.4% of all imports in 2023) and aircraft (26.5%).
Further down the list, the UK depended on the US for 19.2% of its imports of ships and aircraft; 16.7% of its coal, coke and briquettes; 14.6% of its mechanical machinery; 11.2% of its chemicals; 9.2% of its machinery and transport equipment; 3.0% of its beverages and tobacco; and 1.8% of its food and animals.
