Britain's food and drink trade deficit has widened to more than £21bn in the first half of 2026, its largest since 2000, as export volumes fell sharply while imports surged to near-record highs. Export volumes dropped 11.7% year-on-year, hurt by post-Brexit trading barriers with the EU, a 10% US import tariff that cut cross-Atlantic sales by 16.5%, and regional instability that pushed exports to the UAE down by almost a quarter. Industry leaders, including the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) and the National Farmers' Union, are calling the figures a "wake-up call," warning that the growing reliance on imported food — boosted further by recently suspended tariffs on products such as chocolate and biscuits — threatens national food security at a time of rising geopolitical uncertainty.