The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) removes 95 per cent of tariffs between its members: Japan, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Singapore, Mexico, Peru, Brunei, Chile and Malaysia.

Britain hopes to carve out a niche for itself in world trade as an exporter of premium consumer goods and professional services. Accession to the pact would supplement trade deals London is seeking, or has already agreed, with larger members.

“This part of the world is where Britain’s greatest opportunities lie. We left the EU with the promise of deepening links with old allies and fast-growing consumer markets beyond Europe,” trade minister Liz Truss said. “It is a glittering post-Brexit prize that I want us to seize.”

The CPTPP is not expected to lead to a surge in British exports. But it locks in market access, including for legal, financial and professional services sectors, and is seen by ministers as an important way to gain influence in a region where China is increasingly the dominant economic force.

Unlike the European Union, the CPTPP does not impose laws on its members, it does not aim to create a single market or a customs union, and it does not seek wider political integration.

Removing tariffs

The process of negotiating membership is largely about proving to existing members that Britain can meet the group’s standards on tariff removal and trade liberalization, and then setting out details of how and when it will do so.

“The CPTPP agreement has strong rules against unfair trade practices like favouring state-owned enterprises, protectionism, discriminating against foreign investors, and forcing companies to hand over private information,” the trade department said in a statement.

“The UK’s joining will strengthen the international consensus against such unfair practices,” it added.

The government is expected to publish documents setting out its assessment of the benefits of membership on Tuesday, but highlighted cars and whisky as goods exports that would benefit.

The U.S. withdrew from an earlier planned trans-Pacific trade pact under then-president Donald Trump. His successor, Joe Biden, spoke prior to his election last November about the possibility of renegotiating the deal, but has not laid out any firm plans since taking office.

— William James is a U.K. political correspondent for Reuters in London.

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Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around the world and sees the CPTPP as an important pillar of its new independent trade policy.

“We will shortly submit our formal request to join this free trade area,” Truss told a City + Financial Global conference.

The CPTPP is a trade agreement that removes most tariffs between Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Truss described the bloc as “one of the world’s most dynamic trading areas.” Britain sees it as a lucrative and growing market for exports of both goods and professional services.

Britain is seeking bilateral trade deals with Australia, New Zealand and has already agreed a deal with Canada that maintains the terms Britain had as an EU member. It has also signed a deal with Japan that goes beyond the existing EU deal.

Full membership of the CPTPP would supplement these deals and offer better access to economies that represent around 13 per cent of global economic output.

Truss is also hoping the change in U.S. administration will unlock progress toward what ministers see as one of the biggest post-Brexit prizes — a free-trade agreement with the United States.

Talks began under Donald Trump’s presidency but could not reach agreement before his term ended. In her speech on Wednesday, Truss signalled that she expected a more constructive approach to world trade under President Joe Biden.

Biden, who took office Wednesday, “has said he is committed to working with fellow democracies to set the rules of the road of international trade,” she said.

— Reporting for Reuters by William James in London.

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