A year after it formally left the European Union, the British government on Saturday announced it would apply early next week to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The CPTPP comprises of 11 countries that include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam and negotiations with the trading bloc of 11 countries are set to start later this year.
“On year after our departure from the EU we are forging new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated.
“Applying to be the first new country to join the CPTPP demonstrates our ambition to do business on the best terms with our friends and partners all over the world and be an enthusiastic champion of global free trade,” he added.
UK’s trade with CPTPP was worth £111 billion in 2019, with only Japan accounting for near one-quarter of it. The country aims at joining the trading bloc in a bid to secure lower tariffs for the British economy without deep political integration commitments, which was the case with the EU.