Free trade agreements of the United Kingdom

The responsibility for concluding treaties involving the UK lies with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. This remains the case even when the negotiation of the treaty is led by another government department.[14]

The FCO's Legal Advisers and Treaty Section:

• must be given the opportunity to comment on the drafts of all treaties under negotiation
• will advise on the form and substance of the treaty, though not substance which is technical and of which the other government department is the expert
• will advise on related matters such as the production of Full Powers and Instruments of Ratification
• will produce original signature copies of treaties and advise on the treaty signing ceremony
• will arrange for the treaty to be published and laid before Parliament;

is responsible for the registration of these treaties with the UN, allowing their subsequent publication in the United Nations Treaty Series

• will transfer of the treaties to the National Archives for preservation[14]

Unless expressly authorised to do so by HMG in the UK, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories do not have the authority to become a party to treaties in their own right. The UK must extend the territorial scope of its ratification of treaties to include them. This is normally done either at the time of ratification, or at some later date.[14]

The following agreements govern the United Kingdom's free trade with British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Nation (s)	No of nations represented	Signed	Effective	Comment	Ref.
Akrotiri and Dhekelia	31[lower-alpha 11]	30 December 2020	1 May 2021	Trade with the UK is governed within the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, due to Akrotiri and Dhekelia remaining apart of the European Union customs union.	[63][64]
Anguilla	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Anguilla and the UK.	[65][66]
Bermuda	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Bermuda and the UK.	[67][68]
British Antarctic Territory	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between British Antarctic Territory and the UK.	[69][70]
British Indian Ocean Territory	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between British Indian Ocean Territory and the UK.	[71][72]
British Virgin Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between British Virgin Islands and the UK.	[73][74]
Cayman Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Cayman Islands and the UK.	[75][76]
Crown Dependencies Customs Union Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey	3	26 November 2018	9 December 2020	The United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies established a customs union which created a free trade area between the territories, and creates a common external tariff with other countries.	[77][78]
Falkland Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Falkland Islands and the UK.	[79][80]
Gibraltar	1	24 October 2019	1 January 2021	Trade with Gibraltar is governed under the 'Financial Services and Markets Act 2000', Gibraltar and the UK amended this act in order to continue the agreement they had in the European Economic Area.	[81][82]
Montserrat	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Montserrat and the UK.	[83][84]
Pitcairn Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Pitcairn Islands and the UK.	[85][86]
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Ascension Island Saint Helena Tristan da Cunha	3	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha and the UK.	[87][88]
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the UK.	[89][90]
Turks and Caicos Islands	1	9 November 2020	1 January 2021	This arrangement acts as a continuity free trade agreement between Turks and Caicos Islands and the UK.	[91][92]

The following negotiations focusses on ‘new’ trade agreements with countries which rolled over previous EU agreements.

Nation (s)	No of nations repeesented	Status	Comment	Ref.
Canada	1	Negotiations ongoing	Negotiations started in March 2022.	[107][108]
Israel	1	Negotiations ongoing	Negotiations started on 20 July 2022.	[109][110]
Mexico	1	Negotiations ongoing	Negotiations started in May 2022.	[111][112]
South Korea	1	Discussions ongoing	The trade consultation closed on 2 February 2023.	[113][114]
Switzerland	1	Negotiations ongoing	Negotiations started on 15 May 2023.	[115][116]

The following countries can acceed to an existing trade agreement with the United Kingdom.

Nation (s)	Trade agreement being joined	Status	Ref.
Haiti	CARIFORUM	Haiti will be covered by the EPA if they sign it and bring it into effect.	[117]
Comoros Madagascar Zambia	ESA	Madagascar and Comoros have signed the agreement and will be covered by the EPA when they bring it into effect. Zambia will be covered by the EPA if they sign it and bring it into effect.	[118][119]
East African Community Burundi DR Congo Rwanda South Sudan Tanzania Uganda	Kenya	Article 143 of the UK-Kenya Partnership Agreement enables any other EAC member to make an accession request to the UK-Kenya EPA Council.	[120][121]
Cook Islands Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru Niue Palau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu	Pacific States	The Pacific States EPA allows other Pacific countries to apply for accession. Tonga has shown interest in acceding to the existing EPA.	[122]

The United Kingdom was previously a member of the following trade blocs, which granted free trade agreements with fellow members.

Nation (s)	No of nations represented	Signed	Effective	Obsolete	Note	Superseded by	Ref.
European Free Trade Association  Austria  Denmark  Iceland[lower-alpha 12]  Norway  Portugal  Sweden  Switzerland	7	4 January 1960	3 May 1960	31 December 1972	The UK was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association, however left the organisation in order to join the European Economic Community, along with Denmark.	European Economic Community	[129]
European Economic Community  Belgium  Denmark  France  Greece[lower-alpha 13]  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Portugal[lower-alpha 14]  Spain[lower-alpha 15] West Germany/Germany[lower-alpha 16]	11	22 January 1972	1 January 1973	1 November 1993	The UK joined the European Economic Community, along with Denmark and Ireland. The EEC was incorporated into the European Union.	European Union	[130]
European Union[lower-alpha 17] List  Akrotiri and Dhekelia[lower-alpha 18]  Andorra[lower-alpha 19]  Austria[lower-alpha 20]  Belgium  Bulgaria[lower-alpha 21]  Croatia[lower-alpha 22]  Cyprus[lower-alpha 23]  Czechia[lower-alpha 24]  Denmark  Estonia[lower-alpha 25]  Finland[lower-alpha 26]  France  Germany  Gibraltar[lower-alpha 27]  Greece  Hungary[lower-alpha 28]  Iceland[lower-alpha 29]  Ireland  Italy  Latvia[lower-alpha 30]  Liechtenstein[lower-alpha 31]  Lithuania[lower-alpha 32]  Luxembourg  Malta[lower-alpha 33]  Monaco[lower-alpha 34]  Netherlands  Norway[lower-alpha 35]  Poland[lower-alpha 36]  Portugal  Romania[lower-alpha 37]  San Marino[lower-alpha 38]  Slovakia[lower-alpha 39]  Slovenia[lower-alpha 40]  Spain  Sweden[lower-alpha 41]  Switzerland[lower-alpha 42]	32	7 February 1992	1 November 1993	1 January 2020	Following the reult of the Brexit referendum, the UK invoked Article 50 in March 2017. The UK and Gibraltar withdrew from the EU on the 1 January 2021.	—	[131][132]

The following agreements are European Union free trade agreements which the United Kingdom was a party of until Brexit, however continuity agreements were not reached to replace them.

Nation (s)	No of nations represented	Signed	Effective	Obsolete	Note	Ref.
Algeria	1	22 April 2002	1 September 2005	1 January 2021	The UK has no free trade agreement with Algeria.	[133]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	16 June 2008	1 June 2015	1 January 2021	The UK has no free trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina.	[134]
EU Overseas Countries and Territories Aruba Bonaire Curaçao French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Greenland New Caledonia Saba Saint Barthélemy Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Wallis and Futuna	13	27 November 2001	2 December 2001	1 January 2021	The UK has no free trade agreement with any of the EU Overseas Countries and Territories. Greenland and the UK have opened negotiations for a free trade agreement.	[135][136][137]
Montenegro	1	15 October 2007	1 May 2010	1 January 2021	The UK has no free trade agreement with Montenegro.	[138]