UK’s new government reboots trade talks with Gulf, Israel, Turkey

Britain’s Labour government outlined its priorities on Monday for new trade deals, with Gulf countries, Israel and Turkey being high on the agenda.

It follows a pause for the UK’s general election, which took place on July 4. Labour won a landslide election victory, ousting the Conservative Party, which had been in power for 13 years. New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made economic growth a priority of his Labour government and has pledged to make the UK the fastest-growing economy in the G20.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday he would prioritize trade talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Notably, the United States was absent from the list. The GCC is made up of six countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Since leaving the European Union in January 2020, the UK has been pushing to negotiate new trade deals with key economic partners. Former conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who backed Brexit, had touted new trade deals with India and the United States as remedies to the financial damage wrought by leaving the EU, the UK's largest trading partner. These deals, however, are yet to be agreed upon.

The UK already has trade deals with Israel, Turkey, South Korea and Switzerland. Those deals rolled over after Britain left the EU.

The former Conservative UK government had also looked to secure free trade agreements with the above countries and had begun talks with them.

The sixth round of FTA talks between Britain and the GCC ended in February, and the Labour government expects the next round to take place before the end of the year. A government statement after the February talks said that the discussions centered around 21 policy areas over 30 sessions, with “good progress” being made on both sides.

Total trade between the GCC and the UK is worth around 59 billion pounds ($76 billion), according to the latest estimates.

“Boosting trade abroad is essential to deliver a strong economy at home,” Reynolds said in a statement on Monday from the UK Department for Business and Trade. “I’ve wasted no time taking stock of progress and getting ready to press on with trade talks with our international partners.

“From the Gulf to India, our trade program is ambitious and plays to the UK’s strengths to give British businesses access to some of the most exciting economies in the world,” he added. “Our teams will be entering negotiating rooms as soon as possible, laser-focused on creating new opportunities for UK firms so they can support jobs across the country and deliver the growth we desperately need.”

The trade talks between the UK and Turkey are aimed at expanding the current FTA to include other areas such as investments, agricultural concessions and services, which account for 80% of the British GDP. The current trade deal between the two countries was mainly negotiated in the 1990s.  In 2020, 57,000 UK jobs were supported by exports to Turkey — 68% of which were in services, according to the British Trade Ministry.