The United Kingdom signed on Sunday its entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), one of the world’s largest free trade agreements.
This will make the United Kingdom the 12th country to join the bloc once its accession comes into force, and the first non-Asia-Pacific member.
So far, CPTPP, an agreement that entered into force on December 30, 2018, is comprised of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Then the agreement entered into force with respect to Vietnam on January 14, 2019, Peru on September 19, 2021 and Malaysia on November 29, 2022.
TIPAT also provides for the possible inclusion of new economies, provided they have the capacity to meet its demanding standards.
As of June 1, 2021, the partners agreed to assess the possible accession of the United Kingdom and started negotiations on the matter.
«Just formally signed the UK’s entry into the CPTPP in Auckland, New Zealand,» Kemi Badenoch, UK trade and business minister, said via Twitter on Sunday.
CPTPP
On June 2, 2021, ministers and senior officials from the 11 CPTPP member countries established a working group for the United Kingdom’s accession to the trade agreement, and China and Taiwan formally applied for accession to the same treaty on September 16 and 22, 2021, respectively.
Then, on November 30, 2022, Uruguay formally applied for accession to CPTPP.
«This will be a huge boost for British business and will open up huge opportunities and unprecedented access to a market of over 500 million people in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,» Badenoch added.
However, the agreement must still be ratified by the British Parliament.
The United States has significant trade and investment relationships with TIPAT members, which together accounted for 42% of U.S. goods trade (2022), 23% of U.S. services trade (2022) and 22% of foreign direct investment (FDI) volume (2021).
If the 16 CPTPP signatories and current applicants are included, these percentages rise to 60, 39 and 37%, respectively; China accounts for 13% of U.S. trade in goods, and the United Kingdom, 9% of trade in services and 13% of FDI, according to a U.S. congressional analysis.
The CPTPP may hurt competition for U.S. companies in the region, especially in markets without existing free trade agreements with the United States, such as Japan and Vietnam.A limited U.S.-Japan trade agreement, in effect since 2020, has reduced some bilateral tariffs.
