Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
The UK is to launch a public consultation on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), International Trade Secretary Liam Fox announced yesterday.
Speaking in London on the UK’s trade strategy post Brexit, Dr Fox said: “The Government is determined not only to seek deals with key bilateral partners but to break new ground, putting the UK at the heart of the world’s fastest growing regions.”
He added, “That is why I am also announcing a consultation on potentially seeking accession to CPTPP.”
The CPTPP is a revised form of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which originally included the US and was conceived as counter to Chinese economic growth – a factor behind Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s dogged efforts to salvage the pact after the US walked away from the deal last year.
There are 11 countries currently involved in the CPTPP: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. If the UK were to join the agreement it would be the second-largest economy in the pact, second only to Japan.
According to trading website FXS, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, welcomed the UK’s interest in joining. However, in an article published two days before Dr Fox’s speech, The Times reported that it could “take years” for the UK to join the fledgling bloc, citing senior officials as ruling out an early entry.
A trade spokesman for the Canadian government said: “With respect to interest from others like the UK in joining the new deal, our focus right now is on ratification and securing the opportunities we achieved as one of the original signatories to the new CPTPP.”
Of course, there are two notable absentees from the CPTPP, with China not involved and US President Donald Trump withdrawing from the deal in light of his sceptical views on multilateralism. How inclusion in the CPTPP will affect the UK’s trade arrangements with the world’s two largest economies is likely to present a fresh array of challenges for Dr Fox and his DIT colleagues going forward.
