UK applies to join huge Pacific free trade area CPTPP

Source: Department for International Trade

The government is formally applying to join one of the world’s largest free-trade areas, to position the UK at the heart of emerging economies in the Pacific and support jobs across the UK.

UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will speak with Ministers in Japan and New Zealand on Monday morning (1 February 2021) to request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the first formal step before negotiations start later this year.

UK membership would enhance trade with CPTPP nations, including Singapore, by opening up new markets and opportunities for UK businesses while encouraging greater inward investment and strengthening the UK’s ties with the Indo-Pacific region and the Americas.

Membership would also help the UK go further and faster in areas like digital trade and services. Last year trade from the UK to CPTPP member nations in these fields hit £18.7 billion and joining now would create an opportunity to unleash other sectors of the UK’s economy[1].

The UK’s accession would increase CPTPP’s combined GDP from £9 trillion to £11 trillion[2]. Last year, trade between the UK and the 11 member countries was worth more than £111 billion and has grown on average at 8% each year since 2016[3].

The UK’s membership to CPTPP is a key part of the UK’s Government’s plan to position the UK at the centre of a network of modern free trade deals that drive jobs and economic growth.

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said:

“One year after our departure for the EU we are forging new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain. Applying to be the first new country to join the CPTPP demonstrates our ambition to do business on the best terms with our friends and partners all over the world and be an enthusiastic champion of global free trade.”

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

“Our ambition, as an independent trading nation, is to champion free trade, fight protectionism and remove barriers to trade at every opportunity – all of which are values that CPTPP member countries promote.  

CPTPP is an exclusive club of fast-growing countries who trade together, and our accession would secure increased trade and investment opportunities for all members and put the UK at the centre of a dynamic, free-trade area.

As the world continues to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic, membership of CPTPP will help create jobs across the UK, diversify our supply chains and make us more resilient for the future. 

I am looking forward to working with these vibrant economies to help reshape global rules in forward-leaning industries, like in digital and data, and in services.” 

Sam Myers, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, said:

“British business is already benefitting from the bilateral trade deals that came into effect at the start of this year. Accession to CPTPP, the most advanced plurilateral trade agreement in the world, would allow them to become even more integrated with the economies and supply chains of this trading community.

My team and I look forward to supporting this process and to developing ever deeper trade partnerships with the Indo-Pacific members of the CPTPP.’’

In response to the announcement, the British Chambers of Commerce across the Asia Pacific region released the following statement:

The British Chambers of Commerce across the Asia Pacific region welcome the news that the UK has formally begun the process to join the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We recognise the enormous benefits and opportunities of the UK joining this dynamic multi-lateral free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam could bring for British business and their partners in the region, and look forward to successful conclusions of the application.