UK to apply to join Asia-Pacific free trade bloc

LONDON－Britain will formally apply to join a trans-Pacific trading bloc of 11 countries, with negotiations set to start later this year, the government announced on Saturday.

The International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, will formally request on Monday for the country to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, a market representing half a billion people and about 13.5 percent of the global economy.

The application will come one year after Britain left the European Union following more than 40 years of membership and after five years of complex trade discussions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the potential new partnership would "bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain".

"Applying to be the first new country to join the CPTPP demonstrates our ambition to do business on the best terms with our friends and partners all over the world and be an enthusiastic champion of global free trade."

Negotiations between the UK and the partnership, which represents 11 Pacific Rim countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam, are expected to start this year, the trade department said.

But the opposition Labour Party shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry questioned the lack of transparency surrounding the pact.

After five years of debate over Brexit trade agreements, people would question the British government's decision "to rush into joining another one on the other side of the world without any meaningful public consultation at all", she said.

Truss said joining the CPTPP would offer "enormous opportunities".

She has touted joining as Britain made agreements with members such as Canada and Japan in the wake of Brexit, with British media reporting that CPTPP countries accounted for around eight percent of UK exports in 2019.

Truss said the deal will mean lower tariffs for carmakers and whisky producers, as well as "delivering quality jobs and greater prosperity for people here at home".

Karan Bilimoria, president of the UK's largest business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry, said the move marked a "new chapter for our independent trade policy".

"Membership of the bloc has the potential to deliver new opportunities for UK business across different sectors," he said.

The CPTPP was launched in 2019 to remove trade barriers among the 11 nations representing nearly 500 million consumers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States pulled out of the agreement during the presidency of its former president Donald Trump as he turned away from what he viewed as unfavorable multilateral deals, but 11 countries eventually agreed to sign the new version.

Following Britain's definitive departure from the EU after a one-year transition period out of the European single market at the end of last year, the UK has sought to advance the brand of "Global Britain" in 2021.

Agencies - Xinhua