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The Political Quarterly: Brexit and the Future of Trade
5 March 2019
The United Kingdom is one of the most open economies in the world. Its exports and imports were over £600 billion (30 per cent of UK GDP) each last year. It is 'extremely open' from an investment perspective, both its outward and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks, equivalent to 55 per cent and 46 per cent of GDP in 2015, are higher than the UK share in OECD GDP. Given their importance for the economy and the dependence on EU policy in these areas, international trade and investment are the biggest areas of economic policy that the UK will need to decide on as it prepares to exit the European Union.