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Year 8

The UK's imports and exports

I can describe the UK's main imports and exports and can explain why we trade those products.

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New
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Year 8

The UK's imports and exports

I can describe the UK's main imports and exports and can explain why we trade those products.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The UK trades goods and products with countries around the world.
  2. The UK imports food, products and other goods that it does not produce itself.
  3. The UK exports goods and manufactured products produced here to other countries that want to buy them.

Keywords

  • Trade - the buying, selling or exchanging of things between people, companies and countries

  • Import - goods and services brought in from another country

  • Export - goods and services sold to another country

  • Manuacturing - the making of goods on a large scale, often using machinery

Common misconception

Most of our imports in the UK come from China.

Most of our imports in the UK come from the US and EU countries.


To help you plan your year 8 geography lesson on: The UK's imports and exports, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Make clear to students that you can import and export services. For example, you can sell an educational course.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is globalisation?
Correct answer: Countries becoming more interconnected and dependent on each other
A type of social media
A new form of government
A way of growing food
Q2.
What is the term for the exchange of goods and services between countries?
Travel
Migration
Correct answer: Trade
Sport
Q3.
Which of the following is an example of global trade?
A local farmer selling their bread only in their town.
Correct answer: A company in the UK buying laptops made in Thailand.
A library organising a book swap within the local area.
Q4.
Which of the following is an example of a product that might be traded internationally?
A locally made bench
Correct answer: A smartphone
A homemade knitted jumper
Q5.
How has globalisation affected the UK?
Correct answer: It has made trade with other countries easier and faster
It has made the UK more isolated
It has stopped the UK from trading at all
It has decreased the number of jobs in the UK
Q6.
What is a trade agreement?
Correct answer: A deal between two or more countries to make it easier to buy and sell goods
A list of rules about which products can be sold
A competition between countries to make the best products
A document saying which country has the most resources

Exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which of these is an example of an import for the UK?
Cars made in the UK
Correct answer: Chocolate from Belgium
Wool from the UK
Apple juice made in the UK
Q2.
is the buying, selling or exchanging of things between people.
Correct Answer: Trade
Q3.
A lot of the things we buy in the UK come from other countries in the world. These are called .
Correct Answer: Imports
Q4.
Why does the UK import many products from other countries?
The UK doesn’t have enough workers
Correct answer: To offer a variety of goods to consumers
The UK doesn’t have its own industries
The UK only trades with neighbouring countries