CPTPP- UK Asia Trade deal signed! 

The UK recently  signed a significant trade deal with 11 Asian and Pacific nations: The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The 11 CPTPP nations the UK will now have greater trade access to are:

• Australia
• Brunei
• Canada
• Chile
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Peru
• Singapore
• Vietnam

Making up around 13% of the worlds income at first glance this looks to be a great trade partnership for UK exporters.

The UK already had various trade deals with most of these countries but being part of the CPTPP puts the UK “in a prime position in the global economy to seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation” Prime Minster Rishi Sunak says.

Many of these economies in this partnership, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, expect to see major growth in the next 20 years. Hopefully this will result in more export freight from UK businesses to these emerging markets.

What does CPTPP membership mean for freight?

As business opportunities open up across the Globe, so does the demand for export and import freight. Some businesses’ may look to take their first steps in exporting outside of Europe and those that haven’t ever traded out of this country may start to test the water.

The trade deal will cut tariffs on various items including food and drink and will work to lower any barriers to trade that traders may have been faced with in the past.

The CPTPP does not have a single market or customs union, so customs clearance will still be a hurdle for businesses to overcome. In the short-term it is not predicted this will bring a massive shake up for exporting, however the potential is certainly there for the coming decades.

Our Commercial Director Geoff Yates shares his thoughts
“The announcement of the UK joining the CPTPP was welcomed by many and a sure sign of a new, Global Britain, shaking off the post-BREXIT hangover.

Barriers to entry against British products in the global marketplace are coming down. Whilst some on the pro-EU side of the argument will point towards the low projected growth that membership will bring (0.08% of GDP – Brexit cost Britain 4%) the very real prospect of the USA joining the party within the next five years will drastically alter those predictions.

CPTPP membership will give British businesses tariff-free access for 99 per cent of British-made goods to over 500 million consumers, and to economies that are generally growing faster than European ones and already roughly match the combined GDP of the EU. With no free-movement obligations either, this is very much a deal centred on trade rather than politics.”

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