United kingdom Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in united kingdom, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
Market Overview
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The United Kingdom, with a population of 69.2 million people and a GDP of $3.64 trillion (2024), is a major international trading power, with the sixth-largest economy in the world, according to the World Bank. Though geographically small (the United Kingdom is roughly the size of Oregon), it has the second-largest economy in Europe.  

With the effects of the UK’s exit from the European Union (“Brexit”) largely behind them, the UK has emerged as a critical market for American exports of goods and services. U.S. exports of goods and services to the UK reached $179.5 billion in 2024, up 7.5% from 2023, ranking the UK in fifth place among export destinations for American goods and placing it in the number one spot for trading in services.  

Major categories of U.S. exports include financial and professional services, industrial supplies, agricultural products, cyber security and other IT, medical equipment, consumer goods, smart grids, and travel & tourism. The UK ranks third in overall number of travelers arriving to the United States (behind Canada and Mexico, respectively), making the UK the number one overseas market for travel to the United States, with four to five million UK travelers visiting the United States each year and contributing over $14 billion to the American economy annually.

The U.S.-UK investment relationship is the largest in the world, with cumulative bilateral stock in direct investment valued at more than $1.76 trillion in 2024. In 2024, the U.S. direct investment position in the United Kingdom (outward) topped $1.02 trillion, flat from 2023. The direct investment position from the United Kingdom to the United States (inward) was $742.7 billion, an increase of 7.7% from 2023.  Around 2.7 million jobs, 1.48 million in the UK and 1.22 million in the United States, are directly supported by these investments.  

More than 7,500 U.S. firms have a presence in the United Kingdom, which is also the top location in Europe for U.S. regional headquarters covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. According to one recent survey, however, U.S. investment confidence in the UK has declined slightly in 2025, in large part due to lingering uncertainty and challenges to the UK-EU trade relationship in addition to policy uncertainty, regulation, high taxes and high energy costs.

Political Environment

Visit State Department’s website for background on the country’s political and economic environment:
United Kingdom - United States Department of State

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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