Due to Trump's tariffs, the decline in British exports to the United States has reached a record high

Official data released on Thursday (June 12th) showed that after US President Trump introduced new tariff measures, British goods exports to the United States recorded the largest decline ever in April, pushing the UK's goods trade deficit to the highest level in more than three years.

Data from the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom shows that the UK's exports of goods to the United States in April were 4.1 billion pounds, much lower than 6.1 billion pounds in March. This is the lowest level since February 2022 and the biggest decline since monthly records began in 1997.

The £2 billion or 33% decline in exports led to a larger-than-expected drop in the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) in April. The British Chamber of Commerce pointed out that this reduction in size partly reflects manufacturers' additional shipments in March to cope with the expected increase in tariffs. Even so, the volume of commodity exports in April was still 15% lower than that of the same period last year.

William Bain, the head of trade policy at the British Chamber of Commerce, pointed out: "The economic impact of US tariffs has become a reality." Thousands of British exporters are facing problems such as reduced orders, as well as rising supply chain costs and customer costs.

The United States is the largest single-commodity export destination for the United Kingdom and is particularly important for car manufacturers. Last year, the United Kingdom exported goods worth 59.3 billion pounds to the United States and imported goods worth 57.1 billion pounds.

On March 12th this year, the United States imposed a 25% tariff on British steel and aluminium, and raised the import tariff on automobiles to 27.5% in early April. The United States also imposed a 10% tariff on other British goods. Last month, the UK reached a consensus on the framework of an agreement to eliminate additional tariffs on steel, aluminium and automobiles, but the agreement has not yet been implemented.

Data from the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom also shows that due to the decline in exports to the United States, the UK's global trade deficit in goods rose to 23.2 billion pounds in April from 19.9 billion pounds in March. This is the largest deficit since January 2022 and is nearly £3 billion higher than what economists surveyed by Reuters had expected.