When South Africa was pulled out of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961, the United Kingdom opposed monetary and economic sanctions.

In his "Winds of Change" speech in Cape Town, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan spoke of the changes in Africa and how South Africa's racist policies were swimming upstream:As a fellow member of the Commonwealth it is our earnest desire to give South Africa our support and encouragement, but I hope you won't mind my saying frankly that there are some aspects of your policies which make it impossible for us to do this without being false to our own deep convictions about the political destinies of free men to which in our own territories we are trying to give effect.

I told Mr. Botha of my particular concern at the practice of forced removals and raised the question of the continued detention of Mr. Nelson Mandela.

"[6] Margaret Thatcher's opposition to economic sanctions was challenged by visiting anti-apartheid activists, including South African bishop Desmond Tutu, whom she met in London, and Oliver Tambo, exiled leader of the outlawed African National Congress (ANC) guerrilla movement,[7] whose links to the Soviet bloc she viewed with suspicion,[8] and whom she declined to see because he espoused violence and refused to condemn guerrilla attacks and mob killings of black policemen, local officials and their families.

[9] At a Commonwealth summit in Nassau in October 1985, Thatcher agreed to impose limited sanctions and to set up a contact group to promote a dialogue with Pretoria,[10] after she was warned by Third World leaders, including Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, that her opposition threatened to break up the 49-nation organisation of the Commonwealth.

[11] In return, calls for a total embargo were abandoned, and the existing restrictions adopted by member states against South Africa were lifted.

[13] In August 1986, however, UK sanctions against apartheid South Africa were extended to include a "voluntary ban" on tourism and new investments.

In December 2011, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Henry Bellingham MP, announced that Anglo-South African bilateral trade should be doubled by the year 2015.

The UK-SACUM Economic Partnership Agreement, which also governs trade between the UK and other members of the Southern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique, entered into force on 1 January 2021.