Britain wants to join the trading bloc with Australia and Mexico, among other countries

On Monday, the United Kingdom applied to join a trading bloc that includes Canada, Australia and Japan. The British government announced this.

Exactly a year ago, on Monday, the British left the European Union. According to Prime Minister Johnson, the recording shows Britain’s ambition to engage with “our friends and partners around the world”.

The trade bloc the UK wants to belong to, CPTPP, arose as a kind of further development of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The trade pact, aimed at balancing China, was negotiated by 12 countries around the Pacific. The United States also participated in those negotiations, but former President Trump put an end to the treaty when he took office in 2016.

First “new” participant

The other eleven countries continued in CPTPP. In addition to Canada, Australia and Japan, this includes Mexico, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, and Peru. The United Kingdom will be the first “new” country to join the trading bloc since its inception.

Prime Minister Johnson expects that participation in the treaty will bring major economic benefits to the British people. The government says that as a result of the trade agreement, for example, the export duties for whiskey and cars could soon be reduced. Incidentally, the British still had to negotiate their participation in the treaty with other CPTPP countries after it was implemented. That will happen later this year.

Other trade agreements

At the end of December, the UK had already concluded free trade agreements with Turkey and Vietnam. Shortly before that, the British and the European Union had narrowly agreed on a reciprocal trade agreement, preventing Britain’s exit from the European Union without a deal.