Issue No. 272
25th February 2026 |
£8.3bn fall in goods exports means UK’s annual trade figures flatter to deceive
The UK’s annual trade figures for 2025 have been released by the ONS and they present a mixed bag of results for exports. Superficially, a £31bn increase over 2024 in the total value of UK exports is encouraging news, but Parcelhero points out that goods export were actually down £8.3bn, leaving services exports doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And the trade deficit in goods now stands at a sizeable £225.6bn. With the US representing a key market for UK goods exports, the ONS noted that the value of these goods exports to the US remained relatively low since the introduction of tariffs in April. With president Trump seemingly still wedded to tariffs despite the recent supreme court ruling, it seems likely that 2026 will remain challenging.
With best regards
Mark Simms, Editor
editor@machinebuilding.net
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