Britain in talks to join Trans-Pacific Partnership after Brexit, seeing ‘no geographical restriction’
The unusual proposal would make the UK the first member of the TPP without a Pacific coastline
Britain is in talks to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group to boost exports after the UK leaves the European Union, according to reports.
The government is exploring becoming a member of the TPP after Brexit next March and has held informal discussions with the group. If the surprising proposals go ahead Britain would be the first member of the trade agreement which does not have borders on the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea.
The 11 remaining member states include Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore and Canada.
Trade minister Greg Hands told the Financial Times there was no geographical restriction on Britain joining trade groups. “Nothing is excluded in all of this,” he said. “With these kind of plurilateral relationships, there doesn’t have to be any geographical restriction.”
A department for international trade spokeswoman said: “We have set up 14 trade working groups across 21 countries to explore the best ways of progressing our trade and investment relationships across the world. It is early days, but as our trade policy minister has pointed out, we are not excluding future talks on plurilateral relationships.”
However it is likely that any agreement would have to wait until TPP has been revised after the US left and following the UK settling its Brexit departure with the EU.
Combined spending from the 11 TPP countries make up less than 8 per cent of the UK’s export market, with Japan taking just 1.6 per cent of UK exports, compared with the 11 per cent bought by Germany.
The plan was criticised by the shadow trade minister Barry Gardiner.
He said: “It is not the main event and at the moment the government is making a hash of that.”
Lib Dem Tim Farron said: “This plan smacks of desperation. These people want us to leave a market on our doorstep and join a different, smaller one on the other side of the world. It’s all pie in the sky thinking.”
