Brexit bonanza as UK joins world’s fastest-growing trade bloc

UK now has 136m more customers than in the EU, thanks to CPTPP accession

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Brexit Britain is first major country to join since CPTPP was founded

Brexit Britain and international trade – a Facts4EU and CIBUK guide

Part One – The CPTPP success
Part Two – What CPTPP delivers, plus Liz Truss’s exclusive comments
Part Three - Summary of latest international trade figures, plus Sir John Redwood's comments
Part Four – Brexit Britain’s trade deals

As we predicted in several previous reports over the past two years, the United Kingdom is about to join the world’s largest trading bloc, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

On 01 February two years ago (2021) Facts4EU reported on a conference call being made that morning by the then Secretary of State for International Trade, the Rt Hon Liz Truss MP. In that call she formally started the UK’s accession process to the CPTPP bloc.

All of this is on the brink of coming to fruition, as the UK will sign on the dotted line after two years of negotiations. This is a massive boost for Brexit Britain on many levels, as we shall explain.

CPTPP countries – which are they?

Until yesterday, the CPTPP comprised 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Now it will be 12 countries, with the newly independent United Kingdom as its newest member.

The CPTPP entered into force for the first six countries to ratify the Agreement – Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Singapore on December 30, 2018, with the other members ratifying the agreement later. Several other countries are lined up to join, including South Korea and China, but the UK will be the first new country to be accepted.

CPTPP consumers will now outnumber EU consumers by 136 million

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

CPTPP - 136 more customers than the EU

CPTPP population before UK : 515.5m
CPTPP with UK : 582.5m
EU27 population : 446.8m

[Source: Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.]

The EU continuously boasts it is the largest trading bloc in the world. However with the UK being part of CPTPP, the EU will have 136 million fewer consumers than the CPTPP.

In addition, the CPTPP’s population is growing, whereas the EU’s is falling. According to the EU Commission’s official statistics agency Eurostat:

“On 1 January 2022, the population of the EU was estimated at 446.8 million inhabitants, 172,000 fewer than the previous year.”

Observations

The Brexit effect No.1 – The international trading nation is back

It is a simple and incontrovertible fact that the United Kingdom could not have negotiated nor signed up to this new trade agreement while it was part of the European Union. EU member countries are not allowed to hold any trade negotiations with countries outside the EU as this is now the sole prerogative of Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission.

As a direct result of Brexit the UK is on the verge of joining a fast-growing trade bloc, opening up a large number of opportunities for British exporters of both goods and services.

The Brexit effect No.2 – Feeling the freedom

Those in the anti-Brexit media will doubtless claim that this deal is in some way bad for Britain due to some trade restriction or another.

The fact remains, however, that the UK has not had to sign up to ‘Freedom of Movement’, nor will it have to pay billions per year just for membership, nor has it had to subject itself to foreign judges deciding what may or may not be done in the United Kingdom.

The Brexit effect No.3 – The geo-political influence

The CPTPP deal gives the United Kingdom increased influence in the Indo-Pacific, as well as globally.

For decades the UK’s voice was increasingly subsumed into the convoluted Brussels monologue. With an increasingly aggressive China, Putin’s Russia having already shown its hand, and troubling developments in the Middle East, the United Kingdom is once again able to offer its voice and influence on the world stage.

The CPTPP is another step in the right direction for our country.

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[ Sources: Japanese, Australian and other governments | United Nations | Eurostat ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 30 Mar 2023

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Reader Comments 14

1. Sparky , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 06:51:

Could be good news. Will be interesting to see the detail. The UK Govt hasn't produced an impact assessment yet. And Liz Truss started the discussions re CPTTP, which should in itself sound alarm bells.
Headlines of the agreement are conspicuous in their absence this morning.

2. terence patrick hewett , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 06:59:

It should be noted that this is the achievement of the NZ negotiator Crawford Falconer, whom Tory rejoiniacs tried unsuccessfully to get fired. Brexiteers next target, has to be Governmental Reform, Civil Service Reform and Constitutional Reform. And these are likely to involve a radical political re-alignment: these people are entrenched and government will have to employ Thatcher style ruthlessness.

3. RW52 , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 08:01:

Well said 2..
Our current parties will not reform anything as they are part of it, it will be the Reform UK Party so let's get voting for them....

4. Ashley Great Britain , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 08:38:

This is really special news.
Msm won't say much about it as it is good Brexit news.
Rejoining the EU has been dealt a crippling blow.
Finally the UK is getting back on its feet and these partnerships will go from strength to strength.
It's monumental that Australia and New Zealand are part of this too. We have neglected them for far to long.
We never thought we would see this day.

5. Gazzablack , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 09:51:

There are 12 countries in the CPTPP (including the UK)
Another 5 have formally applied to join (Including China whose application is unlikely to be successful)
A further 5 countries have announced their interest in joining.
.
.
With Britain joining, CPTPP will account for 16% of global GDP, same as EU27.
.
By 2050 though, on World Bank forecasts, CPTPP will account for a quarter of the world economy, the EU27 just a tenth
.
It makes lots of sense for a huge service-sector exporter like the UK to be part of a bloc primed for fast growth.

6. Captain Thunderbolt , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 10:21:

1. Sparky , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 07:51:
Could be good news. Will be interesting to see the detail. The UK Govt hasn't produced an impact assessment yet. And Liz Truss started the discussions re CPTTP, which should in itself sound alarm bells.
-
Obviously you haven’t read the previous articles comments. Which I have given you the information to google as we cannot post links

7. Sparky , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 12:54:

6 CT. Thanks for detail, interesting documents. Will be interesting to see any impact assessment if it is published and how this will compare with leaving the EU, but the potential sounds positive.
Obviously not much excitement about it, possibly because the UK already has FTA's with 7 of the 11 countries as part of the roll over deals of the EU's FTA's though this does enhance those existing agreements.
Repeating my comment from yesterday, CPTTP is still a consolation prize for not achieving the promised USA deal.
Interesting that this is being discussed on the same day that King Charles is in Germany to strengthen links and "renewing the pledge of friendship".

8. KB , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 13:17:

If we don't like CPTTP we can leave with six months' written notice. No payments to make. A bit easier than leaving the EU !
However, I don't want China to join.
Sparky (7) on the USA FTA, are we sure we want one. Certainly a comprehensive deal would be very bad for our prescription costs and we don't want it. Much better to go sector by sector and leave medicine and health care out of it. If the Americans refuse to do that, then so be it, we'll do without.

9. Captain Thunderbolt , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 13:29:

Pacific trade deal will mean Britain can never rejoin the EU
CPTPP requires that the UK has control over its own regulatory system, dynamic alignment of UK regulations with the EU would also not be feasible, except in those areas where EU regulation passes CPTPP muster.

10. Sparky , Thursday, March 30, 2023, 14:28:

It’s not a coincidence that the Windsor Framework that was being criticised as a sell out by Facts4EU has been done just days before the UK joins CPTTP. New Zealand we’re raising concerns in 2021 about wether the UK could be trusted to keep to trade agreements.
.
UK has had to push through the WF to satisfy members of CPTTP, how does that sit with sovereignty. Not much difference to being in EU.

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