Box sets » Current account balance » Trade balance
In the run-up to our March 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook, global trade policies had been subject to frequent changes and the future direction for trade policy was highly uncertain. In this box, we outlined three illustrative scenarios to show the potential impact of higher US and global tariffs on UK output and inflation, highlighting the primary transmission channels and their probable effects.
There are signs that global economic integration has stalled in recent years on some measures and reversed on others. This box discussed the implications of integration for the economy and public finances.
Spending on cars in the UK has grown strongly, accounting for nearly a third of household consumption growth since the third quarter of 2011. This growth was facilitated by car finance, which contributed to strong growth in unsecured credit. This box showed trends in domestic share of car production and contribution of domestic and imported cars to household consumption growth over time. Together, they showed that while domestic car consumption was a good indicator of consumer confidence, and car trade in isolation helped reduce the UK's trade deficit, the overall effect on the economy was less positive.
