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UK becomes first European nation to join CPTPP trade bloc

15 Dec 2024 3 minute read
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. Image: Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire

The UK will become the first European nation officially to join an Indo-Pacific trade bloc, in a move that will “boost trade and create opportunities” for British firms abroad.

Britain will become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) today, following years of procedure.

The UK will become the 12th country to join the trade agreement, having first put in an application in early 2021, and officials hope it could add billions to the economy.

Eight members

The UK will enter into the agreement with the eight of the bloc’s 11 existing members who first ratified the accession on Sunday.

These countries are Japan, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Vietnam, Peru, Malaysia and Brunei.

It will then on Christmas Eve enter into force with Australia, who later ratified the deal.

Canada and Mexico are yet to finally rubber-stamp the UK’s membership, but it is understood that officials expect them to do so at some point in the future.

Officials hope the move could boost the economy by as much as £2 billion a year compared with levels of GDP projected for 2040 without the CPTPP deal.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said: “This UK Government is ensuring the best possible trade deals for growing the Welsh economy and putting money into people’s pockets.

“Today’s deal means Welsh businesses will have better access to 11 major economies in the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, Canada and Vietnam.

“Welsh businesses will see less red tape and lower tariffs when exporting to these countries, boosting the Welsh economy and helping to deliver sustained growth.”

Costa Rica

It is expected that the CPTPP will get larger in the coming years, and last month it was announce that Costa Rica would be the next country to work through the process of joining.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “Britain is uniquely placed to take advantage of exciting new markets, while strengthening existing relationships.

“Today’s news is further proof that the UK is a wonderful place to do business, with an open, outward-looking economy driving the growth people can feel in their communities.

“Agreements like this boost trade and create opportunities for UK companies abroad. This is a proven way to support jobs, raise wages and drive investment across the country, which is key to this Government’s mission to deliver economic growth.

“Our trade strategy, published next year, will finally put in place a long-term, strategic plan for international trade that helps businesses and consumers and, ultimately, grows the economy.”

‘Enormous benefits’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who was trade secretary when the UK formally agreed to join the bloc in 2023, said: “The Conservatives delivered CPTPP – a trade deal that brings enormous benefits to everyone from British farmers to fintech and small businesses to the largest manufacturers.

“The deal places the UK in a bloc with the fastest-growing economies in the world and was a key Brexit benefit to add to our EU trade deal.

“However, joining a trade bloc is only the start. Labour spent the last parliament mocking our CPTPP negotiations, and they now have a responsibility to ensure that UK companies can make the most of this landmark deal.”


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S Duggan
S Duggan
1 day ago

All these countries are thousands of miles away, the likely benefits to the economy are thought to be small. We have a huge trading block on our doorstep that the UK government is foolishly still refusing to rejoin. That is the block which will bring the UK far better prospects for higher growth.

Jeff
Jeff
1 day ago
Reply to  S Duggan

I read that the claimed benefit from the CPTPP is a fraction of what we lost when leaving the EU. Existing trade with the EU is orders of magnitude greater than this deal even after brexit.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
1 day ago

Oh dear. Joining a trading bloc where the UK agrees to abide by a collective set of rules for the benefit of all members with those rules not set solely by the UK itself? There goes sovereignty. Given the recent track record, I’m amazed that any such trading bloc would consider UK membership. I wonder how long it will be before the CPTPP-exit campaign starts. This is not the same as being free to trade with nations around the world on an individual basis but simply represents pooping out our nearest trading partners only to replicate what we had with… Read more »

Jeff
Jeff
1 day ago

Bit disingenuous saying we are the first, EU has a deal with the countries and regions (mostley), we are doing this cos we left the EU and brexiteers say we are UK, not a European nation anymore. And we left that huge market a few miles off shore that already had deals/renewing deals. Brexit still winning. Reading that the amount of beef we agreed to per year (13 kiliotons??) should get the farmers out to complain about this….. So, cheap lamb, beef and TimTams and businesses have to ship out all the way around the globe rather than a few… Read more »

Mawkernewek
Mawkernewek
1 day ago

The economy could be boosted by all the engineering work needed to relocate Britain to the new site in the Pacific

Gareth
Gareth
1 day ago

We leave a trading block, where trade with Germany and France was, for the 4 quarter’s ending in q2 2024, worth £254 billion, and we created extra paperwork and costs to trade with them, only to join a trade group where total trade with Japan and Chile, in the same period, was less then £30 billion, and we sign a deal to allow cheap meat to be imported, that could ruin our farming industry and we are told this is a good deal. What am I not getting here. This is plain stupid.

Last edited 1 day ago by Gareth
Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
1 day ago
Reply to  Gareth

Taking your points here coupled with the cheap import Australian deal, I am at a loss to explain why it is that farmers seem barely perturbed by having their very livelihoods attacked by being undercut but drive tractors to Westminster in great numbers over inheritance tax changes. This is a matter of immediate business destruction versus matters occurring further down the line. For the record, I would be quite happy to pay the extra to support farmers against this scandalous undercutting but if THEY are not going to be sufficiently outraged by it, why should I be?

jimmy
jimmy
1 day ago

Deprived of cheap energy, Europe will continue to struggle to make economic headway.

Gareth
Gareth
1 day ago
Reply to  jimmy

The EU is the worlds largest economic trade block , it is the largest economy with a GDP per head of €25,000. It is the top trade partner for 80 countries, it is the worlds largest exporter of manufactured goods and services. Some struggle that.

Karl
Karl
1 day ago

I bet this turns out to benefit the current members over the UK. The Australia deal sold out Welsh farming after all. All that EU protections being sold to the lowest bidder.

Charles Coombes
Charles Coombes
2 hours ago

Such a stupid move in so many ways.

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