The power of trade

This article was originally published by CityAM on 16 April, 2026 - Britain is underestimating the power of trade

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New figures show the UK conducts more than £5bn of trade every single day, yet we barely celebrate it and the jobs it creates, writes Carl Richardson.

As business leaders and politicians struggle to keep up with wildly fluctuating global stock markets and energy prices in light of events in the Middle East, today’s latest trade figures may seem like a minor distraction.

In reality, global trade points to the UK’s underlying strengths, which we must emphasise if we are to safeguard our prosperity and security in this time of acute global uncertainty.

Get trade right and we boost the economy, generating additional revenue for the Treasury which in turn pays for our schools, hospitals and vital needs for our armed forces.

The latest statistics show that the UK is conducting more than £5bn of trade every single day. Our trade in services in particular is booming, with today’s figures showing that our surplus in services has increased by £1.3bn to £54.2bn.

While some may see these huge numbers as somewhat abstract and having no tangible impact upon the real world or on our domestic job market, the reality is very different.

Indeed, those of us in business may care to argue more vociferously about the importance of trade and why it equates to real world benefits that bring jobs and prosperity. Boosting our international trade capacity is one of the UK’s most powerful engines for creating, and sustaining, jobs in every region of the country.

In truth, the success of our services exports is astounding and a reminder that Britain remains a world leader in everything from finance and legal advice to creative industries and higher education.

However, while there is good news in today’s figures, there are also some real challenges and areas that should be addressed. There is no getting away from the fact that the gap between services and goods is growing and we clearly have a two-tiered economy.

It seems vital that steps are taken to counter this. Government data shows that exporters are more productive and pay higher wages than firms that only serve the domestic market.

That matters for living standards: if we want more people in places like the West Midlands – where our own international investment business has a base - the North East or South Wales to access quality jobs, we need more businesses in those regions plugged into global markets. Trade is one of the most reliable ways to pull new investment, skills and technology into these economies, facilitating them to be able to put their best foot forward in the global market.

However, the Jobs Foundation recently polled more than 1,150 family businesses and brought the human reality of this debate sharply into focus, finding well-meaning frustration with successive governments in this space.

Family businesses are the backbone of British employment, accounting for 85% of all private sector businesses and more than half of all private sector jobs. They are not just commercial entities, but community institutions, often rooted in the same towns and streets for generations, measuring their ambitions in decades rather than financial quarters.

Exports are one of the key drivers of job creation, and a healthy export market is the most reliable engine for local recruitment. When a British firm wins a contract in a new market, the benefits are felt in job security and new hires in communities across the UK.

Nonetheless, the polling showed that three-quarters of family business owners believe successive governments have lacked the ambition to make the UK a truly great place to do business. There is a real and pressing opportunity for this Government to change that story, and trade is one of the most powerful levers it has to do so.

Should we be looking at alliances new and old to find ways in which we can reduce barriers and work better together in order to bring about more trade? It is encouraging that ministers in both past Conservative and present Labour governments have set about developing new global trade partnerships such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The prospective UK-India deal offers the promise of unlocking a vast and fast-growing market with deep historical ties. Alongside these headline agreements, quieter but no less significant initiatives - such as memoranda of understanding with individual US states - demonstrate a flexible, sub-national approach to trade diplomacy, enabling the UK to build sector-specific relationships in the absence of a federal UK-US trade deal. Taken together, these strands point to a more agile, outward-looking trade policy.

There is also a deeper strategic logic emerging, one that echoes themes articulated by Canadian leader Mark Carney in his recent Davos speech: that in a more fragmented and uncertain global economy, “middle powers”, like the UK, must work more closely together to uphold open markets and shared standards. 

Since entering office in 2024, the government has spoken of the importance of bringing about growth to the economy and this approach to trade is encouraging. Indeed, it was encouraging to see the Chancellor in her Spring Forecast speak of boosting trade as a key pillar in achieving that.

This really matters, for nuts and bolts reasons. Behind the data, trade can play a major role in securing good jobs at a time when many, especially those starting out in their careers, are struggling to secure roles.

We need to ask ourselves, therefore, whether we are currently doing all we can to use opportunities in trade to expand the number of people who can access good, secure work? If we get that right, the monthly ONS tables will not just be a scorecard for economists, they will be a measure of how well we are doing by the people whose livelihoods depend on an open, enterprising, outward‑looking economy.