On Wednesday, the United Kingdom announced that it had reached an agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which brings together Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. This is a first for a G7 country.
This agreement, whose impact is limited to the scale of the British economy, is part of the United Kingdom’s strategy of increasing, since Brexit, commercial partnerships, presented by London as levers of growth.
It is also announced in the middle of the global trade war, while trade has been disrupted for several months by Donald Trump’s customs duties.
“In this period of increased instability, today’s announcement sends a clear signal of confidence,†said Peter Kyle, the British Minister for Trade, while his Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, hailed in a press release “a tremendous victory for British businesses and for workers†.
“The United Kingdom becomes the first G7 country to conclude a trade agreement with the GCC,” underlines London, adding that once fully implemented, the agreement should make it possible to eliminate “around 580 million pounds of customs duties per year” on British goods exported to the region.
British services, “which represent around 80% of the country’s economy and more than half of the United Kingdom’s exports to the GCC”, will benefit from guaranteed market access.
The agri-food sector should benefit from the agreement, particularly for cereals, cheddar, chocolate and butter, “the GCC imports more than 80% of its foodstuffs”, according to the press release.
The government estimates the bill will add £3.7 billion a year to the UK economy and increase wages by £1.9 billion a year in the long term.
The executive had already announced, in July 2025, a free trade agreement with India.
An agreement was also concluded last year with Washington to limit the impact of American customs duties, capped at 10% on most products.
The Starmer government has suspended sine the commercial negotiations with Jerusalem.
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