UK secures £3.7bn trade deal with Gulf Cooperation Council after four years of negotiations

Britain finalizes a £3.7 billion annual trade agreement with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council after four years of negotiations spanning four prime ministers, becoming the first G7 nation to secure such a deal with the bloc. The agreement removes tariffs on 93% of British goods including food, medical equipment, defense, and aerospace products, while guaranteeing UK services access to Gulf markets and allowing British firms to store data outside the region for the first time. The National Farmers' Union praises it as the best agricultural deal since Brexit, while human rights advocates and trade unions condemn the absence of human rights provisions despite severe abuses in Gulf states. The deal represents Keir Starmer's third major trade agreement following pacts with India and South Korea, offering opportunities across financial services, energy, construction, and technology sectors.

UK-GCC trade deal conclusion

• ▪William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said the UK-GCC trade deal offered great potential to expand trade in the region and would be vital for tens of thousands of UK firms
• ▪The UK is the first G7 country to secure a modern and ambitious trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council
• ▪The UK-GCC trade deal will offer £3.7 billion worth of opportunities for exporters
• ▪The UK-GCC trade deal is the third trade deal concluded by Keir Starmer following pacts with India and South Korea
• ▪The Gulf Cooperation Council trading bloc consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain
• ▪The UK secured a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council after four years of negotiations

Tariff elimination across sectors

• ▪Tariffs will be removed from 93% of British goods sold in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries under the UK-GCC trade deal
• ▪UK services, which account for 80% of the UK economy, will get guaranteed access to business in the six Gulf Cooperation Council states under the UK-GCC trade deal
• ▪Sectors facing zero tariffs under the UK-GCC trade deal include food, medical equipment, defence, aerospace and advanced manufacturing
• ▪Gulf states agreed to allow UK firms to store data outside the region for the first time as part of the UK-GCC trade deal
• ▪Exporters into the Gulf Cooperation Council previously faced a blanket tariff of 5%, with some products facing higher duties

Agricultural standards protection

• ▪The National Farmers' Union of England and Wales said the UK-GCC trade deal was the best agricultural deal since the UK left the EU
• ▪Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers' Union, said the UK-GCC trade deal was probably the best negotiation for agriculture

Human rights chapter omission

• ▪The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy condemned the UK-GCC trade deal, saying it legitimised repression
• ▪Tom Wills, director of the Trade Justice Movement, said the omission of a human rights chapter in the UK-GCC trade deal was especially alarming given severe human rights abuses across the Gulf region
• ▪Paul Scriven, a Liberal Democrat peer who advocates for human rights in Bahrain, said the UK-GCC trade deal represents a complete collapse of moral leadership from the Labour government
• ▪Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trade Unions Congress, said it was disappointing the UK-GCC trade deal was signed despite the Gulf states' appalling record of human rights and workers' rights

Perspective of UK agricultural sector (National Farmers' Union)

• ▪The National Farmers' Union views the UK-GCC trade deal as superior to other post-Brexit agricultural agreements in protecting UK farming interests

Perspective of Human rights advocates and labor organizations

• ▪The Trade Justice Movement considers the absence of human rights provisions in the UK-GCC trade deal especially alarming given documented severe abuses across Gulf states
• ▪The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy argues the UK-GCC trade deal legitimizes repression in Gulf Cooperation Council member states