The accession of the United Kingdom to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has been on the current agenda for the enlargement of the CPTPP since 2 June 2021, when the CPTPP Commission decided to move forward with the application of the United Kingdom as an aspirant economy. The United Kingdom officially applied for CPTPP membership on 21 February 2021. Accession negotiations were agreed and concluded on 31 March 2023. The UK formally signed the agreement on 16 July 2023. Each of the existing member nations will need to ratify the UK's addition to the partnership before it takes effect. The UK government expects the entry into force to take place in the second half of 2024.
The United Kingdom is set to become the 12th member of CPTPP, as the 11 members have agreed to its accession allowing it to join for the 7th CPTPP Commission on 15 July 2023. The UK will become the first non-original member and European country to join CPTPP. it is one of seven CPTPP applicant countries, together with China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Uruguay.
History
Following its withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom began negotiations on several free trade agreements to remove or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, both to establish new agreements and to replace previous EU trade agreements. Withdrawal ended 47 years of membership during which all its trading agreements were negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the bloc. The UK did not actually withdraw from the European Single Market and the European Union Customs Union (and its trade agreements) until 31 December 2020.
Following its failure to secure a United Kingdom–United States free trade agreement, Britain had been reportedly interested in joining several multilateral free trade agreements including USMCA. In January 2018, the government of the United Kingdom stated it was exploring membership of the CPTPP to stimulate exports after Brexit and has held informal discussions with several of the members.
In October 2018, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would welcome the United Kingdom joining the partnership post-Brexit. In a joint Telegraph article with Simon Birmingham, David Parker, and Chan Chun Sing, the trade ministers of Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, UK Secretary of State for Trade, Liz Truss, expressed the United Kingdom's intent to join the CPTPP. The UK Department for Trade's chief negotiator Crawford Falconer helped lead the New Zealand negotiations for the predecessor Trans-Pacific Partnership before leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2012.
In June 2020, the government of the United Kingdom issued a policy paper reaffirming the UK's position on accession to the CPTPP. There were three reasons given: Securing increased trade and investment opportunities that will help the UK economy overcome the unprecedented challenge posed by coronavirus. Joining CPTPP would open up new opportunities for UK exporters in strategically important sectors and helping to support an industrial revival in the UK Helping the United Kingdom diversify trading links and supply chains, and in doing so increasing economic security at a time of heightened uncertainty and disruption in the world. Assisting the UK's future place in the world and advancing the UK's longer-term interests. CPTPP membership is an important part of our strategy to place the UK at the centre of a modern, progressive network of free trade agreements with dynamic economies. Doing so would turn the UK into a global hub for businesses and investors wanting to trade with the rest of the world.
Furthermore, the British government stated that in 2019, each region and constituent country of the United Kingdom exported at least £1 billion ($1.25 billion) worth of goods to CPTPP member countries. The UK government also highlighted that British companies held close to £98 billion worth of investments in CPTPP countries in 2018 and that in 2019, the UK did more than £110 billion ($137 billion) worth of trade with countries in the CPTPP free trade area. In December 2020 the UK's Secretary of State for Trade Liz Truss further expressed her desire for the UK to formally apply in early 2021. In a speech, held on 20 January 2021, Truss announced the UK planned to submit an application for participation "shortly". In October 2020 the United Kingdom and Japan already signed the UK–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which was a roll over of the agreement between the EU and Japan.