8-7-2023 (LONDON) The United Kingdom (UK) is set to sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Auckland next weekend, marking the first new member to join the trade deal since it came into force. The signing will take place during a ministerial meeting of CPTPP members hosted by New Zealand on July 15-16, according to a press release from the country’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade.
New Zealand’s minister for trade and export growth, Damien O’Connor, said in a statement on Saturday that the UK’s membership in the CPTPP will ensure that Kiwi exporters have unprecedented access to the sixth largest economy in the world, alongside their existing bilateral Free Trade Agreement.
Originally seen as a way of balancing China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, the CPTPP lost its largest member when former US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2017. Japan now dominates the pact’s economy, and Tokyo has been urging the US to rejoin.
The CPTPP currently consists of 11 member countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. With the UK set to join, the bloc will represent 500 million people and account for 15% of global GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund.
China, which submitted its application to join the group just months after the UK in 2021, is next on the list of applicants, followed by Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Ukraine. The addition of new members is expected to shift attention to the growth potential of the Asia-Pacific region and the potential for increased trade and investment.
