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Britain’s trade deficit has widened, partly due to a drop in exports to the European Union and the US.
New trade data shows that UK exports to the United States fell by £700m in August, due to “falls in exports of machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and material manufactures.”
The fall in exports of machinery and transport equipment was because of reduced exports of both aircraft and mechanical power generators (intermediate) to Germany, while the decrease in exports of chemicals was because of reduced exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products to Germany and Ireland.
The ONS also reported that the total underlying trade deficit widened in August to £5.2bn, up £1.7bn, led by a rise in imports from the EU.
The UK’s favourable trade deal with the US is reaping no identifiable growth benefits as yet for the UK, the ONS reported that exports of goods to the US, including precious metals, was lower by £0.7bn. The trade deficit was down to trade in goods, where the deficit widened by £3bn in the three months to August, the trade in services surplus increased by £1.3bn in the same period.
