UK Joins APAC CPTPP Trade Bloc That Includes Japan and Australia

After nearly two years of negotiations, Britain has joined the Asia-Pacific trade bloc that includes Japan and Australia.

The agreement, part of a push to reach global trade agreements after Brexit, gives British exporters access to 500 million people in the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The agreement, reached after 21 months of negotiations, will enable exporters to "seize opportunities for new jobs, growth, and innovation," according to the government.

The CPTPP, which spans Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, is expected to be ratified by the UK parliament and the other 11 member states later this year.

The government estimated that the deal, which will reduce tariffs on food, drink, and automobile exports, would generate £1.8 billion in additional revenue after ten years, or about 0.08% of the UK's annual gross national product (GDP).

A demonstrator at the Houses of Parliament holds an EU flag and a union flag.Brexit is a "complete disaster" and "total lie," according to a former Tory donor
Unions slammed provisions in the agreement that allow large corporations to sue the UK government behind closed doors if they believe their profits have suffered as a result of changes to laws or regulations.

Nowak said the deal would sanction the exploitation of workers in Vietnam and Brunei “where independent unions are banned, and Malaysia where migrant workers are subject to forced labour”.

As the first non-founding member of the bloc, the UK is expected to set the template for other applicants to join, including Costa Rica and Uruguay.

China, which applied to become a member in 2021, several months after the UK, is likely to face significant pushback from members, including the UK, that will argue Beijing should be blocked unless it complies with existing international trade rules.

Kemi Badenoch, the trade secretary, said the agreement reflected newly acquired "post-Brexit freedoms to reach out to new markets around the world and grow our economy."

Some trade experts believe that joining the CPTPP bloc would jeopardise the UK's ability to rejoin the EU at a later date, arguing that harmonising trade rules with CPTPP countries would create a schism between Brussels and London.

"CPTPP membership does make it more difficult for the UK to rejoin the EU customs union," said Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the advisory firm Flint Global. However, the fact that the UK appears to be joining without significant changes to EU-inherited regulations demonstrates that the EU and CPTPP regulatory approaches are compatible."

The UK has bilateral deals with many of the countries inside the bloc, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, minimising the benefit of the overarching agreement.

However, ministers expect the deal to become increasingly important as the trade bloc, which will boast a GDP of $11tn, offers access to more nations.

Allowing secret courts to govern trade disputes between CPTPP members and the UK is expected to spark protests similar to those that helped scupper trade talks between the EU and Washington in 2016.

Brussels was forced to abandon the TTIP trade talks after the European parliament refused to ratify any deals that included the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, which provides foreign investors with the right to access an international tribunal to resolve disputes in camera.