Following Brexit, the UK Government is keen to boost trade with countries outside the EU. Our interactive maps show the extent of the UK's global network of free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. You may also be interested in our business-friendly guide to the UK-EU Brexit trade deal.
Last updated August 2023. In particular, the trade agreements map has been updated to reflect the UK's planned accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the countries that the UK is currently in talks with to establish new trade agreements or improve existing arrangements
1. Free trade agreements
The UK currently has free trade agreements in force with over 60 countries and is in the process of negotiating new trade agreements with a number of other territories. See the notes below for further explanation relating to this interactive map. The map allows you to zoom in on a particular geographic area. You can also look up a particular country by using the search box at the top left of the map.
Click here to view the map
Notes on the interactive map
When you click on a country with which the UK either has a free trade agreement or is in negotiations to conclude one, you can access additional information about that country as follows:
New trade agreements
In 2023, new post-Brexit UK trade agreements came into force with Australia and New Zealand. The map indicates a number of other countries with which the UK is in the process of negotiating entirely new trade agreements (coloured light green). These include:
The UK is also looking to expand its existing continuity trade agreements with Canada, Israel, Mexico, South Korea and Switzerland (these countries are coloured dark green because there is already a trade agreement in place with the UK; the negotiations are aimed at improving and updating it). Finally, the UK has negotiated digital trade agreements with a number of territories including Singapore and Ukraine. These typically supplement the existing trade arrangements.
CPTPP membership
In March 2023, the UK Government announced that negotiations for the UK to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) had "substantially concluded". However, the CPTPP is not yet in force as regards trade between member countries and the UK; it will not take effect until all members have completed relevant legislative processes.
The UK's accession will take the total membership of the group to 12 states. The problem with displaying these on the map is that the UK already has bilateral trade agreements with 9 of the CPTPP's current members (Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam). For these countries, CPTPP membership is not indicated through use of a different colour, but in the Additional Notes field for the relevant country. The only other current CPTPP members are Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia. As the UK does not have existing bilateral trade agreements with these 2 countries, we have changed the colour coding to reflect the impact of the UK acceding to the CPTPP.
PLEASE NOTE: This information provides a high-level overview of the UK's free trade agreements and related arrangements such as agreements on customs cooperation or mutual recognition of product conformity. This is neither to be relied on as legal advice, nor is it intended to be a comprehensive overview or description of the provisions of those agreements. If you need more information, please get in touch. Much of the information was obtained from the UK Government's guidance on UK trade agreements with non-EU countries and its trade and investment factsheets.
2. Bilateral investment treaties
Bilateral Investment Treaties or BITs give investors from the UK protection where they make an investment in the "host state" (i.e. the other party to the BIT) – and vice versa where the other party's investors make investments in the UK. In particular, they allow the investor to take action in their own right to protect their investment or obtain compensation (as opposed to having to ask their own government to raise the matter on a state-to-state basis). For more detail, see BITs and the post-Brexit investment landscape.
As highlighted by our interactive map, the UK has an extensive network of BITs. This makes it a potentially attractive jurisdiction for incorporating investment vehicles which can then be used to invest in countries with which the UK has concluded a BIT. However, the BIT must have been brought into force - and the actual terms of the relevant BIT should always be reviewed to ascertain the level of protection offered. Some of the countries with which the UK has BITs are very small, but the map allows you to zoom in on particular geographic areas. You can also look up a particular country by using the search box at the top left of the map.
Click here to view to the map
PLEASE NOTE: This information provides a high-level overview of the UK's Bilateral Investment Treaties. This is neither to be relied on as legal advice, nor is it intended to be a comprehensive overview or description of the provisions of those agreements. If you need more information, please get in touch. The information on BIT status was obtained from the UNCTAD International Investment Agreements Navigator and UK Treaties Online.