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

You have not seen this news on the BBC or any of the major news channels (I wonder why 🙄) but it's true.

As 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).

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

On 01 February two years ago (2021 I reported and wrote an article about 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 I 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

CPTPP — 136 more customers than the EU

• CPTPP population before the UK was 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 the 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.”

The Brexit effect №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 №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 for ‘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 №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 has already shown its hand, and with 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.

However WHAT is the CPTPP? for those who dont know or have a bit of an idea but are not quite sure here is a brief explanation of what it is and how we will benefit.

What does it cover?

The key perk is greater access to each other’s markets, and a pledge to eliminate or reduce 95% of import charges or tariffs. But some are retained to protect sensitive domestic areas, like Japan’s rice farming and Canada’s dairy industry.

In addition, manufacturers that source components from multiple places can claim their products qualify for preferential treatment. That means they can tick the so-called “rules of origin” box, so long as 70% of those components come from any of the participating countries.

In return, countries are obliged to cooperate on regulations, such as food standards. However, unlike the European Union, the CPTPP is neither a single market nor a customs union. So countries are not required to have identical regulations and standards. And countries can strike their own trade deals with others (as the UK has with the EU, and is looking to reach with the US).

The rules of origin provisions could help UK producers of items such as machinery and medicines — our most valuable exports to those nations — by reducing their costs and allowing them to expand their supply chains across the constituent countries. Away from trade, membership ensures investors from CPTPP countries get the same treatment as domestic firms when they put money into projects happening in other member states, which will benefit UK firms. In 2017, the CPTPP nations accounted for about £1 in every £12 of foreign investment in the UK, and the same going the other way — supporting business and jobs.

Unlike the EU that we were in, the CPTPP does not impose laws on any of the countrys

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, the 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.

As I have said the BBC and all the other British news channels will not say much about it as it is good Brexit news, and there is even better news yesterday I wrote about the extremist European Movement going
full pelt for the UK to rejoin the EU. Well 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 too long.

Sources: Japanese, Australian and other governments | United Nations | Eurostat