Reacting to news of a new trade deal with South Korea, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:
“This looks to be a well-tailored deal that will suit the commercial interests of both our countries. Around £15bn worth of goods and services is already flowing between our countries annually, which puts South Korea in the top 25 of UK trading partners.
“Businesses had a number of priorities for these negotiations which look to have all been met. These included long-term clarity on rules of origin, which will benefit the automotive industry.
“Alongside this were additional agreements on market access in services, and quicker, cheaper and simpler goods trade through effective customs reforms and better use of electronic trade documentation.
“We now have the potential to boost trade and investment levels ever higher, with the world’s 12th biggest economy at the heart of a fast-growing economic region.”
Lucinda Walker, Chief Executive of the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea, said:
“South Korea is an exciting market for British goods and services, with opportunities across industries such as legal, finance, automotive, pharmaceutical and retail.
“This deal removes many barriers and we look forward to welcoming new British businesses to the Korean market and seeing the continued growth of our existing members.
“We are grateful to the British Chambers of Commerce and our members for their contributions to consultations and roundtables, which led to this improved deal.”
Background
The UK’s current trade arrangements with South Korea are based upon a deal negotiated in 2019 which gave the UK the same access as it had under EU membership.
The current split of UK exports to South Korea is 54% goods and 46% services.
Annual UK financial services exports to South Korea (to mid-2025) were £941m. These account for 26.2% of all services exports to South Korea.
Annual UK car exports to South Korea (to mid-2025) were £645m. That equates to 14.2% of all UK goods exports.
The UK imports £1.9bn of automotive goods from South Korea – a third of all goods imports from the country.
Annual UK medicines and pharmaceutical exports to South Korea (to mid-2025) were £319m. This is 7% of the UK’s overall goods exports total.
The BCC had urged the government to negotiate a bespoke trade deal with new commitments on data flows, services, business mobility, customs and trade facilitation, and clarity on rules of origin particularly for the automotive sector.
More detail on the trade deal can be found here.