The report examines United Kingdom's trade surplus or deficit through exports, imports, external balance and trade openness.
Exports of goods and services from United Kingdom totaled $1.22 trillion in 2025, compared with imports of $1.28 trillion. The resulting external balance was -$50.57 billion, or -1.3% of GDP.
Trade in goods and services represented 62.8% of GDP in 2024, down by 2.2 percentage points over five years. Based on comparable data for 2024, United Kingdom ranked 129th of 192 economies by trade as a share of GDP and 91st of 194 by the external balance as a share of GDP.
United Kingdom Trade Balance by Year
Data source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — External balance on goods and services, current US$ (NE.RSB.GNFS.CD); External balance on goods and services, % of GDP (NE.RSB.GNFS.ZS); Exports of goods and services, current US$ (NE.EXP.GNFS.CD); Imports of goods and services, current US$ (NE.IMP.GNFS.CD); Trade, % of GDP (NE.TRD.GNFS.ZS).
License: CC BY-4.0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
About the Indicators
External balance on goods and services, current US$. Exports minus imports of goods and services, in current U.S. dollars.
External balance on goods and services, % of GDP. Exports minus imports of goods and services, expressed as a share of GDP; positive values indicate a surplus, negative values a deficit.
Exports of goods and services, current US$. The total value of goods and services a country sells abroad, in current U.S. dollars.
Imports of goods and services, current US$. The total value of goods and services a country purchases from abroad, converted to current U.S. dollars.
Trade, % of GDP. The sum of exports and imports of goods and services, expressed as a share of GDP; a common measure of an economy’s trade openness.