UK and South Korea sign new trade deal aimed at cars, salmon and Guinness

"The new deal covers the exports of services, automotive, pharmaceutical and food and drink, and would bring an extra 400m a year to the British economy, the UK government said. Significantly, the deal also lowers the threshold on the quantity of parts in a car that must be British or from the EU to qualify for zero tariffs from January."

"Under the current rules, 55% of a car must be made in the UK or the EU to qualify for duty-free sales. This has been dropped to 25% under the new deal, enabling carmakers to buy batteries or battery components from China and still qualify for zero-tariff exports to South Korea. The trade minister Chris Bryant tries a racing simulation at Samsung in London to mark the end of negotiations on the UK-South Korea deal."

The UK has signed a new trade deal with South Korea aimed at increasing exports of cars, Scottish salmon and Guinness canned in Britain. The agreement replaces an existing arrangement and follows recent UK deals with India, the US and the EU free trade agreement. Existing trade between the two countries is worth more than 15bn a year under the 2019 post-Brexit arrangement. The deal covers services, automotive, pharmaceutical and food and drink sectors and is projected to bring an extra 400m a year to the British economy. The agreement lowers the automotive local-content threshold from 55% to 25%, allowing carmakers to source batteries or components from China while retaining zero-tariff access. The deal also opens opportunities for British firms to tender for Seoul public procurement and to offer legal services. Political and industry figures including Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley Motors and Diageo welcomed continued access to the South Korean market.

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