UK-TPP link is not an effective formula

With still more than a year to go until Britain's formal divorce from the European Union, it is already wooing a new partner on the other side of the world.

The Conservative government's International Trade Minister Liam Fox, an ardent supporter of the United Kingdom's breakup with the EU, has said he does not rule out a relationship with the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Previous reports that Britain had already held talks about joining the TPP were criticized by Brexit skeptics, who said the government should focus on defining future arrangements with the EU rather than on a fantasy future of linking up with countries of the Pacific Rim.