British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China last week produced a package of economic and political agreements designed to expand UK market access in China, with a primary focus on the services sector.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) hailed China–U.K. economic ties as "healthy and stable" ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official visit to China, scheduled for January 28–31. The trip marks the first visit by a British Prime Minister to Beijing in eight

Officials from the UK and China met to talk about trade issues for the first time in years, although a full-fledged free trade agreement is not expected to come out of the discussions.

The United Kingdom has set out a new trade strategy, which offers broad guidance on how it sees its economic relationship with China.

Last month, the British government issued a "notice of final order" that China-registered Future Technology Devices International Holding Ltd must sell 80.2 percent of Scottish fabless semiconductor firm FTDI, due to national security risks.

With the U.S., the EU, and Canada all taking action recently to impose tariffs on Chinese EV imports, there has been some recent discussion in the UK about whether it should follow the lead of the others.

In late June, a British appeals court ruled in favor of a claim by human rights groups that the UK government was not taking appropriate action under specific UK statutes to address concerns about products made in Xinjiang with forced labor.