#TradeTuesday: The PM’s new trade envoys

In case you missed it, the Prime Minister appointed ten new Trade Envoys last week.

Their job? To help make the most of the UK’s trading relationships.

Check out our team’s summary of who the appointees are.

We also evaluated the data from the four quarters to the end of Q1 2021 to see what the top goods imports and exports were between the UK and the countries the envoys aim to promote UK trade with.

1. Baroness Kate Hoey, Trade Envoy to Ghana.
2. Hoey is non-affiliated and was elevated to the House of Lords in September 2020 after being the Labour MP for Vauxhall for 20 years.
3. She was previously a Minister of State for the Home Office and the then Department of National Heritage (now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).
4. Ghana was the UK’s 77th largest trading partner (accounting for 0.1% of total UK trade).
5. The top good exported to Ghana from the UK are textile fibres (£55.4 million or 15.6% of all UK goods exported to Ghana)
6. The top good imported from Ghana to the UK is fruit and vegetables (£45.3 million or 29.6% of all UK goods imported from Ghana)

• Lord Botham OBE, Trade Envoy to Australia
• Lord Botham is a crossbench peer who was elevated to the House of Lords in 2020 after a career as a cricket player in which he played 102 Test matches for England between 1977 and 1992. He also led the England cricket team between 1980 and 1981, including in two Ashes series against Australia.
• After retirement, he became a commentator and started his own range of Australian wines – one of the top Australian exports to the UK (Australia sends 80% of its wine exports to the UK).
• Australia was the UK’s 20th largest trading partner (accounting for 1.2% of total UK trade).
• The top good exported to Australia from the UK are medicinal and pharmaceutical products (£549.1 million or 12.5% of all UK goods exported to Australia).
• The top good imported from Australia to the UK is unspecified goods including precious metals (incl non-monetary gold), coins, and defence equipment among other things (£587.9 million or 25.8% of all UK goods imported from Australia).

• Rt Hon Conor Burns MP, Trade Envoy to Canada
• Burns has been the Conservative MP for Bournemouth West since 2010 where he quickly took on a role as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS).
• He previously held the role of Minister of State for Trade Policy at the Department for International Trade 2019-20, setting him up well for a Trade Envoy position.
• He is a so-called CANZUK supporter, someone who is in favour of a formal alliance comprising Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom similar in scope to the former European Economic Community.
• Canada was the UK’s 17th largest trading partner (accounting for 1.5% of total UK trade).
• The top good exported to Canada from the UK are non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin, titanium or zinc (£1.7 billion or 26.9% of all UK goods exported to Canada)
• The top good imported from Canada to the UK are unspecified goods (£779.5 million or 19.5% of all UK goods imported from Canada).

• Mark Eastwood MP, Trade Envoy to Pakistan
• Eastwood is the Conservative MP for Dewsbury, having entered the House of Commons in December 2019. Before entering national politics, Eastwood had a career in business.
• Pakistan was the UK’s 53^rd largest trading partner (accounting for 0.2% of total UK trade).
• The top good exported to Pakistan from the UK is metal ores and scrap (£295.5 million or 53.1% of all UK goods exported to Pakistan).
• The top good imported from Pakistan to the UK is clothing (£567.4 million or 44.1% of all UK goods imported from Pakistan).

• Marco Longhi MP, Trade Envoy to Brazil.  
• Longhi is the Conservative MP for Dudley North and another member of the 2019 intake. Before entering Westminster, Longhi worked in business and in local politics.
• Brazil was the UK’s 34^th largest trading partner (accounting for 0.4% of total UK trade).
• The top good exported to Brazil from the UK is mechanical power generators (intermediate) (£309.4 million or 16.8% of all UK goods exported to Brazil).
• The top good imported from Brazil to the UK is meat and meat preparations (£242.6 million or 13.2% of all UK goods imported from Brazil).

• Felicity Buchan MP, Trade Envoy to Iceland and Norway
• Buchan was elected as the Conservative MP for Kensington in December 2019. Before entering Parliament, Buchan worked in financial services. 
• Iceland was the UK’s 74^th largest trading partner (accounting for 0.1% of total UK trade) and Norway the UK’s 13^th largest trading partner.
• The top good exported to Iceland from the UK is office machinery (capital) (£76.1 million or 22.8% of all UK goods exported to Iceland).
• The top good imported from Iceland to the UK is fish and shellfish (£284.0 million or 65.9% of all UK goods imported from Iceland).
• The top good exported to Norway from the UK is ships (£612.9 million or 13.5% of all UK goods exported to Norway).
• The top good imported from Norway to the UK is crude oil (£5.2 billion or 43.6% of all UK goods imported from Norway).

• Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Trade Envoy to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
• Stephen Timms is the Labour MP for East Ham and has been an MP since 1994.
• He served for three periods as Financial Secretary to the Treasury; from 1999 to 2001, 2004 to 2005 and 2008 to 2010 and is now the Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
• Switzerland was the UK’s 8th largest trading partner (accounting for 3% of total UK trade) while Liechtenstein was 119^th (accounting for 0.1% of UK trade).
• The top good exported from the UK to Switzerland was unspecified goods including precious metals (incl non-monetary gold), coins, and defence equipment among other things (£6.4 billion or 54.3% of all UK goods exported to Switzerland.
• The top good exported from the UK to Liechtenstein was works of art (£49.6million). The percentage of the total UK exports of goods to Liechtenstein accounted for by the above commodities are not provided here. This is due to the value of total UK exports of goods to Liechtenstein being rounded to the nearest million.
• The top good imported from Switzerland to the UK are medicinal and pharmaceutical products (£1.4 billion or 24% of all UK goods imported from Switzerland)
• The top good imported from Liechtenstein to the UK is miscellaneous electrical goods (£3.1 million).

• Baron Walney (John Woodcock), Trade Envoy to Tanzania
• Lord Walney is a British politician serving as Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption.
• He was previously the Labour MP for Barrow and Furness from 2010 to 2019 and before that, an aide to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
• Tanzania was the UK’s 123^rd largest trading partner (accounting for less than 0.1% of total UK trade).
• The top good exported from the UK to Tanzania was road vehicles other than cars (£37.8 million).
• The top good imported from Tanzania to the UK was coffee, tea and cocoa (accounting for £13 million).

• Rt Hon David Mundell MP, Trade Envoy to New Zealand
• David Mundell was elected as the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale in May 2005.
• He was Secretary of State for Scotland from May 2015 to July 2019.
• New Zealand was the UK’s 54th largest trading partner, accounting for 0.2% of total UK trade.
• The top good exported from the UK to New Zealand were cars (£155.3 million or 20.7% of all UK goods exported to New Zealand).
• The top good imported from New Zealand to the UK were beverages (£254.4 million or 30.3% of all UK goods imported from New Zealand).

1. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Trade Envoy to Cameroon (in addition to his role as Trade Envoy to Egypt)
2. Donaldson is the Democratic Unionist Party Leader and MP for Lagan Valley (NI) and has been an MP since May 1997.
3. He currently undertakes the roles of DUP Chief Whip, and Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Business in the House of Commons) in addition to his various spokesperson positions for the DUP in the Commons.
4. Cameroon was the UK’s 121st largest trading partner, accounting for less than 0.1% of total UK trade.
5. The top good exported to Cameroon from the UK is telecoms and sound equipment (£5.1 million).
6. The top good imported from Cameroon to the UK is wood and cork (£20.9 million).

Source: Department for International Trade ‘Trade and investment factsheets’ https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/trade-and-investment-factsheets