Kemi Badenoch has signed off UK membership to a major Indo-Pacific trade bloc, bringing British businesses a step closer to far flung markets with fewer barriers on the quality of imports.
The Business and Trade Secretary signed the accession protocol to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in New Zealand on Sunday.
Britain is the first new member and 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, probably due to… you know, geographical reasons.
The Sunday Express announced the signing of the agreement with a boisterous front-page splash, highlighting the £12 trillion trade boost it could bring which, as Femi notes, could be the biggest Brexit lie on record.
It is also worth noting the reaction of news outlets elsewhere.
The world’s largest financial newspaper, The Nikkei, ran with the headline: ‘The UK formally joins CPTPP to little fanfare and low expectations’, coverage that was picked up by Sam Coates on Sky News.
The Nikkei notes that the agreement is expected to give the UK economy a marginal boost of 1.8 billion pounds, or 0.08 per cent, over 15 years, based on the government’s own assessment in April 2021.
“The impact appears mainly cosmetic, for the UK to show it made a trade deal after Brexit,” said Chris Devonshire-Ellis, chairman of Dezan Shira & Associates, an advisory firm that works with investors across Asia.
“No one in Asia is taking the pact very seriously.”
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