Cars were the most valuable type of commodity exported from the United Kingdom in 2024, with exports of this commodity valued at approximately 32.9 billion British pounds. Mechanical power generators were the second-most valuable commodity in 2024, with an export value of around 32.7 billion pounds in this year. By comparison, the most valuable import commodity was also cars, amounting to over 38.4 billion British pounds. The next most valuable import commodity was medicinal and pharmaceutical products at over 27.2 million pounds in this year. UK main trading partners Although the share of both imports and exports from the European Union has been declining recently, the single market is still by far the UK's main trading partner. In terms of individual countries, the United States was the main export partner in 2024 at 16.1 percent of all exports, while Germany was the UK's main import partner with 12.5 percent of imports coming from there in 2024. A main argument of the Leave vote, was that the UK should seek to improve up its trade with the rest of the world, outside of Europe. The success of this 'Global Britain' strategy, depends on the UK significantly scaling up its trade with other continents, with countries outside of Europe still responsible for far less trade than European ones. Brexit and EU trade At the start of 2021, the United Kingdom exited both the European Single Market and the European Customs Union, with the UK's trading relationship with the EU now determined by a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Although the TCA continued tariff and quota-free goods trade between the EU and UK, a number of customs checks came into force, increasing trade friction between the two parties. The status of Northern Ireland in the initial agreement was also different from the rest of the UK. Goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain were initially subject to customs checks, to prevent customs checks occurring at the border with the Republic of Ireland. In February 2023, it was announced that under a new EU-UK agreement called the Windsor Framework, some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain will be subject to fewer checks.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars delivered approximately 5,700 automobiles in the 2024 fiscal year, representing a decrease of 5.3 percent compared to the previous year. The luxury auto brand is a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW. The brand reported record sales a year earlier, in parts due to the release of the first deliveries of its Spectre model in autumn 2023. Rolls-Royce and Brexit Rolls-Royce hit record numbers for the second year straight in 2019. However, international new light vehicle sales remained flat between 2016 and 2019, and significantly declined in 2020. Furthermore, the United Kingdom’s potential departure from the European Union causes some worry among UK-based automakers, including Rolls-Royce: West Sussex, England, is home to the headquarters, design, and manufacturing facilities of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Roughly 90 percent of the finished vehicles at this plant were exported out of the United Kingdom to other regions of the world. Following Brexit, the UK government had to renegotiate trade deals with the EU and governments around the world. The United States and China will be a particularly important trading partners in the future. The U.S. is the largest market for Rolls-Royce, accounting approximately 30 percent of their sales. China is the second largest market and has been growing considerably. Post-Brexit laws may affect the goods and parts that are used to make Rolls-Royce automobiles. According to Rolls-Royce's CEO, only 10 percent of parts for Roll-Royce vehicles come from the UK.