The Brexit transition ended on 31st December 2020, after which Britain was free to sign trade deals around the world. The trade deal with New Zealand was signed in October 2021 and came into effect at the end of May 2022.
At the time there was a lot of gnashing of teeth, with various claims that the deal was unfair to Britain and that the govt had been naive to sign it. But as you can see from the table below, it was a success; total trade with New Zealand in 2024 was 61% higher than in 2021, and the UK's trade surplus in 2024 was 80% higher than in 2021.
This is down to a surge in exports of services to New Zealand.
60% of the UK's exports to New Zealand are services, 40% are goods. Whereas 61% imports from New Zealand are goods and 39% are services.
The UK runs a tiny trade deficit in goods with New Zealand: £880 million in exports and £905 million in imports giving a deficit of £25 million. On the services side, £1.3 billion in exports and £575 million in imports, in the four quarters to Q1 2025.
Here are the top five goods traded:
And here are the top five services traded:
Travel means tourists - Brits and New Zealanders like to travel to each others countries, but that has always been the case. The surplus in services is down to insurance, pensions and other business services (research and development, professional and management consulting services, technical services and trade related services).
Here is how the trade breaks down by region:
The trade deal did what it was supposed to do; it opened up New Zealand for the financial and business service industry. And it allowed New Zealand's competitive agricultural industry to export tariff free to the UK. As Britain is a net importer of food, another source of good food helps with food security.