UK signs long-term trade deal with Gulf Cooperation Council

Britain has secured a long-term trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Middle Eastern states, in a deal the government says will be worth billions of pounds annually to the UK economy. The agreement, announced on Wednesday, is the first of its kind between a Group of Seven nation and the GCC, whose members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The government estimates the deal will add 3.7 billion pounds to the British economy each year in the long term, more than doubling initial projections. It will eliminate 93 percent of tariffs on British goods exported to the region, with an estimated 580 million pounds in duties to be removed by the agreement's tenth year. Two-thirds of these tariffs will be lifted immediately upon implementation.

Key British exports set to become tariff-free include cereals, cheddar cheese, chocolate, and butter. Major sectors expected to benefit are automotive, aerospace, electronics, and food and drink. The professional services industry, which accounts for more than half of UK exports to the Gulf, will also gain from locked-in market access and provisions for the free flow of data. In...