Britain to apply for membership of CPTPP Asia-Pacific free trade bloc
- The application to join the Asia-Pacific free trade bloc will come one year after Britain formally left the EU following more than 40 years of membership
- Negotiations between the UK and the partnership, which includes Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam, are expected to start this year
Britain will apply to join a massive 11-nation free-trade bloc of Asia-Pacific countries, it announced on Saturday, weeks after leaving the European single market with its departure from the EU.
The CPTPP application will come one year after Britain left the European Union following more than forty years of membership – and after five years of complex trade discussions.
“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 said.
Negotiations between the UK and the partnership – which represents 11 Pacific Rim nations including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam – are expected to start this year, the trade department said.
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But opposition Labour party shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry questioned the lack of transparency surrounding the pact.