28 October 2025, Room CR

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning, colleagues.

Let me first extend my warm welcome to the United Kingdom delegation, led by Sir Chris Bryant, Minister of State for International Trade. I would like to thank the Secretariat and the government of the United Kingdom for preparing the Trade Policy Review reports, and particularly for the UK's efforts to mobilize multiple domestic stakeholders in preparing this TPR, from a dedicated session on TPR at the public forum to the UK WTO Archive Exhibition this morning. My thanks also go to the Discussant, Ambassador Ali (Sarfraz) Hussain, for his insightful comments.

This is the first TPR for the UK as an independent member of the WTO. We note with pleasure its encouraging economic recovery in early 2024, demonstrating the resilience of the economy. Trade has played a central role in supporting the UK’s economic growth. Its total import and export of goods and services accounted for over 60% of GDP. The UK’s economy is characterized by strong performance in services and digital trade. It is the largest net exporter of financial services globally, accounting for 10% of global digitally-delivered services exports in 2024.

For an open economy deeply integrated into the global trading system, the rule-based multilateral trading system is of vital importance. And we are glad to see that the UK has committed to upholding its commitments to multilateralism as set out in its 2025 Trade Strategy.

We commend the UK for its constructive role in the WTO reform and welcome its participation in the MPIA. We highly appreciate the UK’s positive contributions to the E-commerce Agreement, the IFD Agreement and the domestic service regulation negotiations. The UK is also commendable for its active role in trade and environment, trade and gender and at the MSMEs informal working group.

China and the UK have a good collaboration on WTO issues. We’ve been working closely on the IFD Agreement and DS reform. Last month, we agreed to create a joint working group to facilitate discussion on WTO issues, including WTO reform to support the multilateral trading system.

Chair, economic and trade cooperation is a cornerstone of the China-UK relations. China is the UK’s third-largest trading partner, and the UK is China’s third-largest trading partner in Europe. In 2024, bilateral trade in goods and services exceeded $130 billion. The UK is China’s second-largest destination for direct investment in Europe and the third-largest source of foreign investment from Europe. This September, the 14^th China–UK Economic and Trade Joint Commission was held; both sides reached a broad consensus on issues related to trade, investment, as well as multilateral and regional cooperation.

Despite this, we note with regret that some measures and actions adopted by the UK have deviated from the international principles it upholds and have eroded the confidence of business investing in the UK. For instance, since the enactment of the National Security and Investment Act 2021, 13 of the 41 final orders imposing bans or conditional approvals have targeted Chinese entities. National security is a legitimate concern for any country, but it should have boundaries. We remind the UK that generalizing the national security concept would only undermine normal trade and inventiveness opportunities. We urge the UK to make independent and rational decisions so as to truly live up to its reputation as one of the world’s most attractive investment destinations. In addition, China notes that CBAM will be introduced in the UK. China opposes any unilateral or protectionist measures in the name of climate change and environmental protection. In this regard, we urge the UK to carry out WTO compliance assessments and fulfil its transparency obligations.

Chair, China and the UK share many areas of common understanding, including supporting the rule-based multilateral trading system. We stand ready to engage in constructive dialogue and cooperation with the UK at the WTO.

Finally, I would like to thank the UK for its response to our written questions and wish the UK a successful first trade policy review.

Thank you.