Following its withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom began negotiations on several free trade agreements to remove or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, both to establish new agreements and to replace previous EU trade agreements. Withdrawal ended 47 years of membership during which all its trading agreements were negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the bloc. The UK did not actually withdraw from the European Single Market and the European Union Customs Union (and its trade agreements) until 31 December 2020.
These treaties are divided into two types of free trade agreements: continuity agreements and 'new' agreements. Continuity agreements, also named rollover agreements, make use of a mutatis mutandis concept in order to quickly replicate the existing EU agreements, only having to call out those minor areas of differentiation. Most continuity treaties were provisionally applied, or through a "bridging mechanism", thus continuity was achieved. Trade agreements negotiated after Brexit are termed 'new', or enhanced agreements: these agreements have been negotiated from scratch or have been renegotiated to expand the deal since Brexit.
, the United Kingdom has 40 active free trade agreements with nations and trade blocs, covering 103 countries and territories. Six of these are 'new' trade agreements, such as with Australia, India, and New Zealand. The UK is also a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Competence and ratification According to UK law the United Kingdom Parliament has the power to pass law in all policy areas.
The UK's negotiating team will consult with its Strategic Trade Advisory Group throughout the negotiations.
Ratification The responsibility for concluding treaties involving the UK lies with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. This remains the case even when the negotiation of the treaty is led by another government department.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office's legal advisers and Treaty Section:
must be given the opportunity to comment on the drafts of all treaties under negotiation will advise on the form and substance of the treaty, though not substance which is technical and of which the other government department is the expert will advise on related matters such as the production of Full Powers and Instruments of Ratification will produce original signature copies of treaties and advise on the treaty signing ceremony will arrange for the treaty to be published and laid before Parliament is responsible for the registration of these treaties with the United Nations, allowing their subsequent publication in the United Nations Treaty Series will transfer of the treaties to the National Archives for preservation
Unless expressly authorised to do so by the United Kingdom government, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories do not have the authority to contract treaties in their own right. The UK must extend the territorial scope of its ratification of treaties to include them. This may be done either at the time of ratification, or at some later date. Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
Active agreements The following free trade agreements are currently in effect. The following lists include three types of regional trade agreements as classified by the World Trade Organization, including free trade agreements (FTA), economic integration agreements (EIA), and customs unions (CU). Signature and entry into force dates are as listed by the World Trade Organization.
Independent agreements The following bilateral and plurilateral free trade agreements are currently active independently from a trade bloc:
Nation(s)No. ofnationsrepresentedAgreementSignedEffectiveCoverageTypeWTOMechanismTrade value(2025)Ref.1Albania–UK Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement5 February 20213 May 2021Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £373mAndean Countries3Andean Countries–UK Trade Agreement15 May 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & services ContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £4,288m1Australia–UK Free Trade Agreement16 December 2021 31 May 2023 Goods & servicesNewFTA & EIAFull ratification £24,186m1Cameroon–UK Economic Partnership Agreement28 December 2020 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £321m1Canada–UK Trade Continuity Agreement 22 December 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £33,655mCARIFORUM14CARIFORUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement22 March 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAProvisional application £5,522mCentral America6Central America–UK Association Agreement18 July 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £2,939m1Chile–UK Association Agreement30 January 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £2,282mEastern and Southern Africa4Eastern and Southern Africa–UK Economic Partnership Agreement 31 January 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £2,562m1Egypt–UK Association Agreement5 December 2020 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £5,058m 31EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement30 December 2020 1 January 2021Goods & servicesNewFTA & EIAFull ratification £865,900m1Faroe Islands–UK Free Trade Agreement31 January 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £267m1Georgia–UK Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement21 October 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £424m1Ghana–UK Interim Trade Partnership Agreement2 March 20215 March 2021GoodsContinuityFTAProvisional application £1,561m3 Iceland–Liechtenstein–Norway–UK Free Trade Agreement8 July 20211 December 2021Goods & servicesNewFTA & EIAFull ratification £41,1251India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement24 July 202515 July 2026Goods & servicesNewFTA & EIAFull ratification £48,029m1Israel–UK Trade and Partnership Agreement18 February 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £5,956m1Ivory Coast–UK Stepping Stone Economic Partnership Agreement15 October 2020 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £1,116m1Japan–UK Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement 23 October 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & services NewFTA & EIAFull ratification £34,660m1Jordan–UK Association Agreement5 November 2019 1 May 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £1,099m1Kenya–UK Economic Partnership Agreement8 December 2020 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £2,117m1Kosovo–UK Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement3 December 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & services ContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £20m1Lebanon–UK Association Agreement19 September 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £696m2Switzerland–Liechtenstein–UK Trade Agreement11 February 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £52,919m1Mexico–UK Trade Continuity Agreement15 December 2020 1 June 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £7,010m 1Moldova–UK Strategic Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement24 December 20201 January 2021Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £1,568m Morocco1 Morocco–UK Association Agreement26 October 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAProvisional application £4,740m1New Zealand–UK Free Trade Agreement28 February 202231 May 2023Goods & servicesNewFTA & EIAFull ratification £4,019m1North Macedonia–UK Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement3 December 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAProvisional application £1,773mPacific States4Pacific States–UK Economic Partnership Agreement14 March 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAProvisional application £653m Palestinian Authority1Palestinian Authority–UK Political, Trade and Partnership Agreement18 February 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £38m1Serbia–UK Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement16 April 2021 20 May 2021Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £1,247m1Singapore–UK Free Trade Agreement10 December 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £28,244m 1South Korea–UK Trade Agreement 22 August 2019 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £16,975mSouthern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique6SACUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement9 October 2019 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAFull ratification £14,296m1Tunisia–UK Association Agreement4 October 2019 1 January 2021 Goods ContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £716m1Turkey–UK Trade Agreement29 December 2020 1 January 2021 GoodsContinuityFTAProvisional application £28,323m1Ukraine–UK Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement8 October 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & servicesContinuityFTA & EIAFull ratification £2,058m1UK–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement29 December 2020 1 January 2021 Goods & services ContinuityFTA & EIAProvisional application £10,473m
Trade bloc membership
The United Kingdom is currently a member of one trade bloc, which covers multilateral free trade with fellow members.
Trade blocNo. of nationsrepresentedSignedEffectiveCoverageWTOTrade valueRef.Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership 1116 July 202315 December 2024Goods & servicesFTA & EIA £152,415m
Negotiations The United Kingdom is currently pursuing free trade agreements with new countries using three methods. The first of is negotiating completely new trade agreements with a country. The second is through a country applying and acceding to a trade bloc of which the United Kingdom is currently a member. The third way is through encouraging countries to join existing plurilateral trade agreements.
Active negotiations The following countries are in active negotiations, have drafted, or signed a new free trade agreement with the UK government: Nation (s)No of nationsrepresentedAgreementCoverageTypeTrade value (2023)StatusProgressRef. Greenland1Greenland–UK Partnership, Trade and Cooperation AgreementGoodsNew £12mNegotiations ongoingNegotiations resumed on 3 October 2025. Gulf Cooperation Council Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates6Gulf Cooperation Council–UK Free Trade AgreementGoods & servicesNew £57,433mAgreement signedAgreement signed on 20 May 2026 South Korea1South Korea–UK Free Trade AgreementGoods & servicesNew £18,349mNegotiations concludedAgreement in principle reached on 15 December 2025. Switzerland1Switzerland–UK Free Trade AgreementGoods & servicesNew £50,817mNegotiations concludedAgreement in principle reached on 13 July 2026. Turkey1Turkey–UK Free Trade AgreementGoods & servicesNew £25,817mNegotiations ongoingFifth round of negotiations concluded on 23 June 2026.
Previous negotiations The following countries have previously opened negotiations with the UK government for a free trade agreement, but negotiations have since been suspended, stagnated, or removed from the UK governments trade negotiations agenda. The United Kingdom has formally suspended negotiations for a free trade agreement on two occasions; it suspended free trade negotiations with Canada in January 2024, and Israel in May 2025.