The UK has formally signed the treaty to join a vast free trade area spanning the Indo-Pacific region, in a move the government says will be a “big boost for British businesses.”
Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the accession protocol to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday.
The UK is the first new member, and the first European nation, to join the bloc—comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam—since its formation in 2018.
It represents Britain’s biggest trade deal since leaving the EU, cutting tariffs for UK exporters to a group of nations which—with Britain’s membership—will have a total gross domestic product (GDP) of £12 trillion, accounting for 15 percent of global GDP, according to UK officials….