Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday hailed UK’s “post-Brexit freedoms” as the country joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc comprising 11 countries spanning the Indo-Pacific region. Downing Street said the historic agreement follows two years of intense negotiations by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and puts the UK at the heart of a dynamic group of economies, as the first European member and first new member since the CPTPP was created. The UK would not have been able to join the bloc as a member of the European Union (EU), something the Brexit-backing Sunak has highlighted as a big win.
“We are at our heart an open and free-trading nation, and this deal demonstrates the real economic benefits of our post-Brexit freedoms,” said Sunak. He said, as part of the CPTPP, the UK is now in a prime position in the global economy to seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation. “Joining the CPTPP trade bloc puts the UK at the centre of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies, as the first new nation and first European country to join. British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the south Pacific,” he said. The bloc – made up of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – is home to an estimated 500 million people and is forecast to be worth 15 per cent of global GDP once the UK joins. According to official estimates, joining the bloc is expected to boost the UK economy by 1.8 billion pounds in the long run, with wages also forecast to rise by 800 million pounds compared to 2019 levels.