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”.
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 threatens to overshadow Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with EU chiefs.
Asked by the BBC early on Monday 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).
Some 10 per cent 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 per cent of UK goods imports) and ahead of China (9.7 per cent), the Netherlands (9.1 per cent) and France (7.1 per cent).
Some £60.4bn of goods were exported from the UK to the US in 2023, while £57.9bn of goods were imported.
What is exported?
Of the £60.4bn of goods exported to the US in 2023, machinery and transport equipment accounted for the largest share, at £27.2bn, ahead of chemicals (£14.2bn) and materials (£4.2bn).
The top commodity exported by value was medicinal and pharmaceutical products, accounting for £8.8bn of US exports, followed by cars (£6.4bn), mechanical power generators for intermediate sale (£5.2bn), organic chemicals (£2.8bn) and scientific instruments for sale as capital goods (£2.8bn).
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 £19.9bn, followed by fuel (£18.7bn) and chemicals (£7.8bn).
The number one commodity imported by value was crude oil, accounting for £8.5bn of total goods imports.
Gas was in second place (£6.6bn), followed by intermediate mechanical power generators (£5.5bn), medicinal and pharmaceutical products (£3.8bn) and refined oil (£3.4bn).
How dependent is the UK on the US?
Nearly a quarter (23.6 per cent) of all the UK’s exports of chemicals went to the US in 2023, with the figure even higher for organic chemicals (27.8 per cent), and medicinal and pharmaceutical products (33.9 per cent).
Other commodities near the top of the list include animal oils and fats (25.8 per cent of all exports), inorganic chemicals (21.6 per cent), cars (18.4 per cent) and aircraft (17.9 per cent).
Overall, 17.1 per cent of the UK’s machinery and transport equipment exports in 2023 went to the US, along with 15.9 per cent of exports of beverages and tobacco, 5.2 per cent of exports of food and live animals and 5.1 per cent of exports of fuel.
By contrast, almost a third (31.9 per cent) of all the UK’s crude oil imports in 2023 came from the US, with a similar figure for gas (31.2 per cent).
Some 23.5 per cent 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 per cent of all imports in 2023) and aircraft (26.5 per cent).
Further down the list, the UK depended on the US for 19.2 per cent of its imports of ships and aircraft; 16.7 per cent of its coal, coke and briquettes; 14.6 per cent of its mechanical machinery; 11.2 per cent of its chemicals; 9.2 per cent of its machinery and transport equipment; 3 per cent of its beverages and tobacco; and 1.8 per cent of its food and animals.
