Update: UK-Türkiye Trade Talks

During what is already a busy week on the trade agreement front, the Secretary of State for Business & Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, still found time to meet in London with his Turkish counterparts yesterday (Wednesday 7th).  

Overall, their discussions focussed on continuing to strengthen and improve the UK-Türkiye trading relationship which, importantly, included the agreement to hold the first round of negotiations on an improved FTA before the end of July.  

Currently, trade between the two countries totalled £27.8billion in 2024, which was a 4.5% increase on the 2023 figures, and Türkiye was the UK’s 16th largest trading partner during the same period.  The current trade agreement with Türkiye was carried over from the UK's membership to the EU.

Türkiye is one of the only countries where the greatest percentage of goods exported from the UK come from the North East of England.   Currently, roughly 7,800 and 14,200 UK VAT-registered businesses export and import to/from Türkiye respectively. 

UK-Türkiye negotiations on an updated and enhanced trade agreement are to start before the end of July.