EU-UK trade after Brexit: customs, rules of origin & key 2026 trade developments

Five years after Brexit took effect, this update reviews the current state of EU-UK trade and a cluster of customs and trade-compliance developments landing in 2026 — essential context for anyone managing UK-EU supply chains.

Topics covered:

• The EU-UK trade picture: relative trade volumes, the EU's goods and services surpluses, and why UK and EU services statistics diverge (different service classification systems)
• The ongoing review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) through joint UK-EU committees
• New EU and UK steel import quota regimes taking effect from 1 July 2026, including the "melt and pour" origin rule
• The SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement under negotiation, targeting entry into force by mid-2027, and dynamic alignment with EU rules
• Rules-of-origin difficulties for secondhand and used goods under the TCA, including a Lithuanian Supreme Court ruling on secondhand clothing imported from the UK
• Northern Ireland developments: the Trader Support Service, the UK Internal Market Scheme, the Retail Scheme, the Duty Waiver Scheme, ICS2 complaints, and Windsor Framework fraud concerns
• The new temporary €3 duty on low-value import consignments and the removal of the €150 de minimis threshold

For a broader overview of the topic, please watch the full recording. The slides are available in the Resources section.

Please note that this summary was generated using AI, based on the recording and available slides.