If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in over five years as the director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, it’s that there is never a dull moment in the international trade year.
The rhythms of trade missions, fora, conferences, awareness days and campaign weeks flow seamlessly from one into another.
There is one week, however, which particularly stands out to me and that is International Trade Week, the Department for Business and Trade’s iconic events week.
More important than ever
The week boasts a plethora of free online and in-person events designed to help UK businesses to grow through exporting. Now in its fifth edition, International Trade Week is perhaps more important this year than any other.
Throughout this year, US president Donald Trump has exerted a previously unimagined sway on global trade policy, sending ripples across markets and rocking the plans of exporters large and small across the world.
It is debatable as to whether the international trade landscape was ever a predictable beast. To the extent that it was, the crystal ball is now cracked in a thousand places. It was former US president Abraham Lincoln, however, who said: “I will prepare and some day my chance will come”. Now is not the time for UK businesses to be on the retreat, but to be in a state of active preparation for new opportunities.
UK advantages
The UK has undoubted advantages. We stand as a mighty bastion of commerce, the sixth largest economy in the world.
However, we still have some cracks in our foundations, cracks which will cost us in the long-term if we do not address them. One of these is that only 11.8% of all registered UK SMEs businesses export.
With 99.8% of the business population estimated to be made up of SMEs, we are right to be concerned about the UK’s future economic growth trajectory and that is why I am glad that so many of the events taking place during International Trade Week are targeted at small businesses, and helping them to explore new markets, to make use of the benefits of free trade agreements and to diversify their supply chains.
GCC and India deals
With the UK-India free trade agreement set to enter into force next year, with trade minister Chris Bryant saying that he expects to conclude a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council ‘soon’, and with the ninth round of negotiations on an enhanced free trade agreement (FTA) with Switzerland due in early 2026, the gap for UK businesses to ‘get their foot in the door’ of these markets is becoming wider.
I am also proud that the Chartered Institute is using International Trade Week 2025 as a springboard from which to launch the Approved Customs Practitioner standard, our new benchmark for customs excellence.
With this standard, experienced customs professionals can demonstrate their applied knowledge and support the wider professionalisation of the UK’s customs workforce in line with national compliance and trade facilitation goals.
The standard also reflects the UK’s broader strategic focus on secure, efficient, and digitally enabled borders, where trusted customs professionals will play a key role.
90th anniversary
While International Trade Week turned five this year, the Chartered Institute turned ninety. As I engage with this week, the question at the forefront of my mind will be: “How do we want the UK’s trade prospects to look in ten years, when the Chartered Institute turns one hundred?”
When I look into my own crystal ball, I have visions of rapidly increasing levels of SMEs exporting, driven by access to finance reforms and improved gender equality in trade. I have visions of a fully-functioning single trade window, of businesses utilising trade agreements all over the world, of a more harmonised world trade system.
These are not just visions for me and my team. These are measures which we work every day to turn into reality.
In ten years time
Now, however, I turn the question back to you and ask where you want your business to be in ten years.
I return to Lincoln’s quote earlier in this piece, and now take issue with it. In international trade, we don’t wait for ‘some day’ to come to bring our chances. The preparation that we do now is what makes the ‘chance’ happen.
As you engage with International Trade Week, I hope that some of these chances lay the foundation for your future.
Member exclusive
