More than Brexit, Covid could – or rather, the rapid succession of the two events. Italian companies operating in Great Britain have had to face various difficulties (especially bureaucratic ones) after the country’s exit from the European Union. But listening to the entrepreneurs’ accounts, many agree that the biggest problem was the combined effect of Brexit and the pandemic, which not only slowed down the British economy but above all generated a strong (at least initial) lack of labor, especially in sectors such as catering and logistics.
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Stable trade exceeding 30 billion
Ten years later, however, data shows that overall trade has remained stable, around 31-35 billion euros per year. The trade balance, always positive for Italy, rose from 15.3 billion in 2021 to 19.5 billion in 2025, with a surplus grown by over 27% in five years, according to data provided by Assocamerestero based on Maeci and Istat sources.
Assocamerestero itself, through its British associate, recently conducted a survey to understand how the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU has impacted Italian companies operating in the UK.
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Some data to start: according to the Reprint database (Istat/Ice), at the end of 2023, 2,234 Italian companies were active overseas, an increase compared to the 2,084 surveyed the previous year, with over 103,000 employees and an aggregate turnover of 33.5 billion euros. The most represented sectors are aerospace, energy, automotive, food, and furniture.
Regarding Italian exports to the United Kingdom (26.9 billion euros in 2025), our country mainly sells food and beverages (4.6 billion euros, 16.9% of the total), followed by machinery (3.8 billion), transport equipment (3.6 billion), base metals (2.9 billion), fashion (2.2 billion), and pharmaceuticals (1.9 billion).
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