A major UK pivot to the Asia-Pacific region has been underway now for several years during the post-Brexit era. However, there has been a significant intensification of this shift in recent months, with the country seeking to seize what has been called the “Asia-Pacific moment.”

Later this month, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing — his first trip to the nascent superpower since he assumed office. The agenda will be shaped by the economic opportunity for the UK in the vast Chinese market. This follows up on Starmer’s trip to India last fall, and his visit to the Pacific island of Samoa in 2024 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Building from these trips, just before Christmas, the UK reached a trade deal with South Korea, the fourth such agreement in 2025 for London, following UK agreements with the EU and India, plus a US tariff deal. The South Korea accord is forecast by London to grow UK services exports by £400 million (about $540 million). This includes improved access to a growing financial market, building on £1.1 billion in financial and insurance exports in 2024.

The South Korea deal will secure continued, permanent UK tariff-free access across 98 percent of tariff lines, the same terms the EU has with South Korea. It will also rules of origin that will simplify tariff-free access and will open doors for greater diversification across supply chains for sectors such as automotive and pharmaceuticals. Smaller businesses could be particular winners by streamlining custom processes and reducing South Korean non-tariff barriers.

By 2030, a growing slice of the world’s population will live in the vast Asia-Pacific region, which is helping to drive huge demand for goods and services across sectors where the UK has long-established strengths. This includes financial services, life sciences, defence and security, education, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative industries, digital, healthcare, green finance, luxury brands, and professional and business services. This economic opportunity is especially compelling in a world of growing protectionism where there is a growing need for London to diversify its trade and investment markets toward the region.

While the UK has recently reached major trade deals with individual countries such as India, the biggest single deal so far is perhaps the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, which includes Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam. Since leaving the EU, overall, the UK has made significant diplomatic progress in the Asia-Pacific.

As Starmer’s upcoming trip indicates, engagement is also intensifying with China after relations cooled significantly following the coronavirus pandemic beginning in 2020. The UK government has said that while a stronger partnership is desired with China, London will be a pragmatic, if sometimes critical, friend in future.

These and other opportunities highlight the upside opportunity to the UK economy given the UK’s global competitiveness in areas ranging from life sciences to fintech, and education to security. However, rising data protectionism threatens to fragment the market, and there is now an urgent mission for London to push for interoperability, including through CPTPP, and wider multilateral rule-shaping.

Another opportunity is driving the Asia-Pacific region’s green transition, leveraging UK tech strengths and knowhow in this area. Half of global greenhouse emissions emanate from this region, yet demand for offshore wind, green hydrogen and carbon finance is growing fast in the push to net-zero targets in the second half of the 21st century.

One other key strength is defense-industrial partnerships. In nations across the region, from Japan to Australia, the UK is not only an economic partner but also a longstanding security ally. Recent developments such as AUKUS showcase UK expertise in sectors including aerospace, cyber, and manufacturing.

The latter, moreover, highlights the imperative of the UK engaging in the Asia-Pacific for geopolitical reasons. This is not just the fact that relations between the US and China are tense, but also reflects broader challenges, including North Korean unpredictability.

In this dynamic, highly uncertain context, the UK’s longstanding reputation as a relatively stable, predictable, and trusted partner has potential for a distinct strategic advantage. Especially with a government in place in London with a large majority that could be in power till 2029, this offers a multi-year horizon for a trusted alternative for Asia-Pacific business and governments seeking to hedge against political and regulatory uncertainty.

If it is to seize this huge opportunity, London needs a compelling grand strategy that combines the best of UK hard and soft power, drawing on longstanding national economic strengths and diplomacy.

This should leverage the UK’s global soft power, including higher education, research collaboration, the creative industries, and cultural diplomacy to strengthen long-term influence. Moreover, sustained senior-level business and political engagement is key too, embedding the UK more fully within regional growth corridors through regular ministerial and diplomatic presence on the ground, including permanent partnerships across the Asia-Pacific.

This political and commercial diplomacy should leverage CPTPP accession, bilateral trade agreements and wider enhanced trade dialogues, plus significant new market access. The goal is a long-term, targeted strategy capable of addressing key obstacles through sustained government-to-government engagement, backed by leading-edge corporate dialogue.

Taken together, a potentially significant intensification of the UK pivot to the Asia-Pacific is underway that builds from the post-Brexit reorientation to the region. Economics, not only politics, is at the heart of this, with UK businesses seeking to secure greater traction in the region on the back of new bilateral trade deals and the CPTPP.