International Trade Minister Liz Truss will officially ask Britain to join this free trade treaty on Monday. It brings eleven countries together.

The United Kingdom will apply for membership in the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement – Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the UK Department for International Trade said in a statement on Saturday. International Trade Minister Liz Truss will on Monday officially request the United Kingdom’s adhesion to the Free Trade Agreement, which brings together eleven countries in the Pacific, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam. The ministry said that talks between London and CPTPP partners are expected to begin this year

A year after London left the European Union, “we are building new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits to the people of the United Kingdom”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacted. He said, “Applying to become the first new country to join CPTPP proves our ambition to trade in the best conditions with our friends and partners worldwide and to be an ardent champion of global free trade. “

Low tariff

Joining the treaty, Liz Truss said, “will mean lower tariffs for vehicle manufacturers and whiskey producers and better access to our excellent service providers, leading to quality employment and greater prosperity for the people here”. Unlike the European Union, joining this group of “fast-growing” countries would be “unconditional”, Truss said on Sky News: “We will not have border controls, we should not contribute financially.”

CPTPP was launched in 2019 to remove trade barriers between its eleven countries, representing around 500 million consumers in the Asia-Pacific region. It also aims to counter China’s growing economic impact. It is the new version of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Trans-Pacific Free Trade Pact (TPP), which Donald Trump dropped.