U.S. President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rushi Sunak are starting foundational talks on an export deal this October. The negotiations will include agricultural trade, Politico reports.

With the two leaders seeking reelection in 2024, they are looking forward to lay grounds for beneficial trade relations.

Insiders hope that the talks will have been fruitful before the November, 2024 U.S. election and the 2024 UK general election.

Prior to the foundational trade negotiations, the U.S. is proposing full market access in the UK for its agricultural trade commodities and U.S. traders eye a deal with almost the same privileges as a free trade agreement.

Interestingly, the British PM is closing in on the first free trade agreement with a non-EU country, India. The deal will be the largest such deal since February, 2020, the month the UK formally exit the European union (EU).

With the India-UK free trade agreement finalizing in late 2023, the U.S. is keen on a similar treat.

Key hindrances include such issues as animal welfare and UK’s wariness on treated animal products from the United States. British farmers also are circumspect that American produce may prove cheaper than theirs and infiltrate the local market. 

US-UK Agricultural Trade Post-Brexit

In the Brexit year of 2020, agricultural trade between the United States and the United Kingdom was quite small. The U.S. exported $2.75 billion of agricultural products to the UK in 2020, mostly forestry products. 

The UK exported just $1.1 billion of agricultural products to the U.S. the same year, mostly distillery products.

The agricultural export market between the two strategic countries was down in the run up to Brexit. UK’s agricultural trade with the U.S. dipped by –0.15% (exports) and -0.08% (imports) between 2015 and 2020. 

The above details reveal that the UK’s post-Brexit trade outside the EU has leaned more to exports than to imports. China, the biggest trade beneficiary with the UK, for example, saw a growth of 0.54%  in exports from the UK in 2020 while corresponding imports fell by -0.07% in the same period.

A look at the 3 key US to UK agricultural exports

Things may change as the UK looks more westward for trade with orders for three key agricultural products from the U.S, namely:

• Forestry products, which accounted for $924.82 million of all U.S.’ agricultural exports to the UK in 2020.
• Wine and beer, which accounted for $249.92 million in 2020’s UK imports from the U.S.
• Food preparations and miscellaneous beverages, worth $217.6 million and third highest among UK’s agricultural imports from the U.S. in 2020.

American agricultural exports to the United Kingdom, which include forest raw materials and processed foods may be the focus of the trade negotiations.