The UAE has crossed a milestone that once sounded aspirational and distant. Its non-oil foreign trade has surged past the $1 trillion mark for the first time, a leap that signals how quickly the country’s economic story is being rewritten.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the achievement reflects years of groundwork coming together at once — a fully formed investment ecosystem, deeper global partnerships, closer alignment with the private sector, and rising international confidence in the UAE as a trade and business hub.
Reviewing the latest foreign trade figures, Sheikh Mohammed noted that non-oil trade reached AED 3.8 trillion in 2025, marking growth of nearly 27 percent in a single year. Even more striking was the performance of non-oil exports, which climbed to more than AED 813 billion after expanding by over 45 percent year on year.
“These were goals we set with a longer horizon in mind,” he said, adding that almost all of the targets originally planned for 2031 have now been achieved several years ahead of schedule. The message to national teams, he said, is clear: push harder, strengthen private-sector partnerships further, and keep building momentum.
The pace of growth tells its own story. Compared with previous years, non-oil trade has risen by more than 44 percent since 2023, nearly doubled since 2021, and more than doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The final quarter of 2025 alone delivered a first-ever quarterly total of AED 1.1 trillion in non-oil trade, underlining how rapidly volumes are accelerating.
Exports are playing a bigger role than ever. By the end of 2025, they accounted for 21.6 percent of total non-oil trade — a sharp rise from just 14.1 percent in 2019. Non-oil exports have now more than tripled over six years, comfortably outperforming targets set under the “We the UAE 2031” vision.
Trade agreements are also beginning to show tangible impact. Exports to countries covered by Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements that were active by the end of 2025 reached AED 175.5 billion, making up more than a fifth of the UAE’s total exports during the year.
Gold and jewellery, aluminium, refined petroleum products, plastics, perfumes, and copper wires remained among the strongest export drivers, collectively recording robust growth. Re-exports continued their steady climb as well, reaching over AED 830 billion, reinforcing the UAE’s role as a global trading crossroads.
Imports expanded in parallel, exceeding AED 2.1 trillion in 2025, with strong gains across both major trading partners and the wider global market. Gold, electronics, vehicles, petroleum products, and diamonds dominated inbound trade flows.
Perhaps the clearest signal of scale came in the closing months of the year. In just three months, the UAE matched levels of non-oil exports that once took an entire year to achieve. What was once a long-term ambition has become a present-day reality — and a marker of how decisively the country’s economy has shifted beyond oil.
