UK-China trade

The UK’s economic relationship with China has evolved significantly over the past few decades, with both nations recognising the mutual benefits of strategic investment partnerships. With the Labour government pursuing an ambitious UK growth agenda, the UK finds itself at a pivotal moment in terms of collaborating with and seeking investment from China. China’s expanding role in the global economy offers a wealth of opportunities for collaboration that could help …

The government hopes that UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ visit to China will boost British growth by engaging with the world’s second-largest economy in a “pragmatic” way Reeves’ visit follows the dialogue opened last year between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in November 2024, the first between the two countries’ leaders in six years. At that meeting, Starmer emphasised the importance of …

The latest edition of the CBBC China Trade Tracker shows that UK-China trade ties remained resilient in the face of economic and political headwinds in 2023 Although the year was challenging for both countries – China’s economy did not “rebound” as expected following the lifting of pandemic restrictions in late 2022, and the UK’s GDP grew by just 0.4% amidst lingering inflation and high interest rates – UK goods exports …

Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade (Harvard University Press), the new book by Assistant Professor of International History at LSE Elizabeth O’Brien Ingleson, may focus on the US experience of trading with China, but there is much for the UK to learn too. How did the US, EU and Britain – along with many other countries – help make China the world’s foremost trading power? …

The China-Britain Business Council’s Chair, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, and Chief Executive, Andrew Seaton, visited Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou at the end of May – their first to China since 2019 The visit included a range of meetings with senior Chinese Government officials as well as attending events with CBBC members and stakeholders across China. The first stop on Sir Sherard’s visit to China took him to Qianhai, Shenzhen, where …

Despite challenges like the lengthy Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, UK exports to China proved resilient in the second quarter of 2022, with many UK regions reporting record export growth, according to CBBC’s China Trade Tracker. Here are the latest UK-China trade statistics Parts of the UK saw a strong recovery in trade with China in the second quarter of 2022 as its economy recovered from severe lockdowns earlier in the …

In considering UK-China trade from China’s perspective, the UK appears to leave a lot to be desired as a trade partner, and the fact that the UK has not had a high-level trade dialogue in recent years is starting to set it apart among its peers, writes Joe Cash The prospect of UK-China trade talks recently caused a furore in Parliament. The notion that the government would want to resume …

The China Trade Tracker, a new quarterly publication offering expert insight into UK-China trade, shows that over the past decade, UK exports to China have more than tripled to over £30 billion, making China the UK’s third-largest trading partner The October 2021 edition of the report brings together official HM Treasure and the Office for National Statistics data with CBBC expert analysis to highlight key trends and themes of the …

The Prime Minister has appointed the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss as Foreign Secretary, meaning that there’s a new top team in government handling the UK’s political-economic relationship with China; the former Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, moves to head up to the Department for International Trade Ms Truss has become the UK’s second female foreign secretary, following Labour’s Margaret Beckett 15 years ago. Her appointment means …

The reform and opening up policy introduced in 1978 not only changed China, but the entire world. FOCUS asks people that have laid witness to these four decades of change to share their thoughts on China’s past, present and future. Words by Ambassador Barbara Woodward, Lord James Sassoon, Kerry Brown, Lord Michael Heseltine, and Richard Robinson In December 1978, China’s leader Deng Xiaoping, announced that China would start a period …