EU-UK trade in the agri-food sector

The Bank of England also reports that ‘barriers to trade between the UK and EU have increased, which is judged to have resulted in lower trade between the two regions than would have occurred otherwise, and hence a lower level of productivity’. The Scottish Parliament and the British Chambers of Commerce reports maintain that the worst-hit sectors are agri-food (and other perishable goods), which are required to meet the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, and chemicals and advanced manufacturing. However, while it is true that EU imports of agri-food products have been hit, with UK farmers feeling the brunt of Brexit, as Figure 10 shows, this is not the case for EU exports in the agri-food sector. Overall, EU-UK agri-food trade (total imports and exports) has recovered since the implementation of the EU-UK TCA, managing to surpass pre-Brexit levels of EU-UK trade in 2023 and 2024. Experts explain that the TCA has also particularly impacted EU-UK trade in pharmaceutical products because it ‘introduced substantial trade and regulatory barriers’, due to the UK’s post-Brexit regulatory divergence from the EU.