China has racked up a goods trade surplus with Britain under Labour worth billions.
The trade imbalance with Beijing comes just one week after Keir Starmer’s 7,400 mile round failed to produce a single export order.
Keir Starmer’s diplomatic olive branch sparked backlash amid claims that the Government was duped by Beijing.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of adopting a “supine and short-termist approach”, adding he returned with “next to nothing” apart from a Labubu doll.
A damning new report by thinktank Facts4EU only adds to that impression.
The report, jointly led by Stand for Our Sovereignty and shared exclusively with the People’s Channel, shows that in the time between Labour taking power in July 2024 and November 2025 – the latest date for which these figures are available – China has racked up a goods trade surplus with the UK of more than £75billion.
Put simply, Britain has bought over £75bn more in goods from China than China has bought from Britain since Sir Keir entered No.10 – a colossal imbalance which directly boosts China’s GDP at the expense of the UK’s.
Researchers at Facts4EU and Stand for Our Sovereignty say they spent several days combing through every announcement issued by No.10 during Sir Keir’s visit to China and Japan. They then cross-checked those claims against the latest trade data.
Shocking graphs have revealed the extent of Keir Starmer’s handover to China
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PA / FACTS4EU / STAND FOR OUR SOVEREIGNTY
Sir John Redwood, who has worked with Facts4EU on the report, says the imbalance is structural and worsening.
He points out that UK imports from China continue to surge, a trend likely to accelerate further as Labour pushes ahead with large-scale renewable projects reliant on Chinese-made solar panels, wind turbine components and batteries.
By contrast, China shows little appetite for buying British goods in return – a reality exposed in the charts accompanying the report.
One chart shows UK imports from China rising steadily. Another illustrates China’s apparent disinterest in British exports. The final chart brings the problem into sharp focus: a real-terms goods trade deficit of more than £75bn since Labour took office.
China’s cumulative goods trade surplus with the UK since Labour took charge
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FACTS4EU
“These are not abstract numbers,” the report warns. “They represent lost output, lost growth and a direct transfer of economic strength from the UK to China.”
Downing Street has attempted to paint the trip as a success by pointing to minor concessions, including a small tariff tweak on Scotch whisky and a 30-day visa-free travel arrangement for UK visitors.
But Facts4EU notes that visa-free access was already enjoyed by Germany, France, Italy and almost 50 other countries, making it anything but a unique diplomatic win.
Even the Government’s own estimates suggest the whisky tariff change might be worth around £50 million a year – a rounding error in a £3 trillion economy.
Sir John Redwood said China will continue to expand its exports
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GB NewsSir John Redwood said: “Their optimistic £50m of extra business a year from this will be invisible in a £3,000,000 million UK economy.
“Meanwhile China will doubtless expand its exports by far more than that, meaning UK GDP will go down as a result of the likely trade changes.”
At the bottom of No.10’s own summary of “wins” from the trip, readers are invited to click through for export details.
The link leads not to new agreements announced in Beijing last week, but to a generic exports page covering data up to September 2025 – long before Sir Keir boarded the plane.
“There is nothing on this page with the remotest connection to the Prime Minister’s China trip,” the report notes.
Sir John Redwood’s verdict is blunt:
“In a fair negotiation you expect as many wins for your own side as the other party has.
This trip was lopsided in favour of China.
Increasing trade under these conditions is likely to mean a bigger deficit, strengthening their economy and weakening ours.”