UK set to formally apply for trans-Pacific trade bloc membership

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts after signing the Brexit trade deal with the EU at number 10 Downing Street in London, Britain December 30, 2020. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

 

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

 

Since leaving the European Union, Britain has made clear its desire to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which removes most tariffs between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

 

"One year after our departure for the EU we are forging new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.

 

Reuters reported on Thursday that Britain will not publish an assessment of the economic benefits of CPTPP membership before requesting to join it - contrary to earlier promises.

 

Previous government economic analyses of Brexit have pointed to small boosts to economic output from additional trade deals.

 

The government said joining CPTPP would remove tariffs on food and drink and cars, while helping to boost the technology and services sectors.

 

British trade minister will speak to counterparts in Japan and New Zealand on Monday with a formal request to join CPTPP, the statement said.

 

"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," Johnson said.

 

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Toby Chopra)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-31

 

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great news 

So much for that vaulted Eton education. Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

16 minutes ago, pegman said:

So much for that vaulted Eton education. Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

 

Maybe look up the location of Pitcairn, a British Overseas Territory. That connection is surely more than sufficient to qualify us Brits for membership.

27 minutes ago, pegman said:

Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK

I guess its still in the same place that the E.U. Spends --$. Billions importing from, they even import over $9 Billion from little old Kiwi in 2019........Of course all food from there heavily taxed for the citizens of the E.U. Put the Oz market in there as well.....its far from a drop in the ocean.

If your suggesting something silly --like its to far away--then just ask the USA where its biggest trading partner is situated.

 

New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the south-western Pacific Ocean. For 2019, New Zealand annual goods exports to the EU were worth NZ$5.3 billion and services exports are worth NZ$3.7 billion...

 

 

48 minutes ago, pegman said:

So much for that vaulted Eton education. Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

Probably because EU bureaucrats make dealing with people far away more easier than those across a channel ! Just look at the vaccine fiasco of the past couple of days for an insight into the EU bureaucrats. 

1 hour ago, pegman said:

So much for that vaulted Eton education. Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

Canada and Mexico are just round the corner as well.

Not a big deal, as UK already had EU rollover deals with most of them and was negotiating with the others. The key issue is that the US may join the partnership now that Trump has left.

A chance for Aus and Canada to lobby the UK on frozen pensions- not to be missed!

3 hours ago, pegman said:

So much for that vaulted Eton education. Would someone please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

Why...?

This passage from the article tells us all we need to know about the significance of such a deal:

"Reuters reported on Thursday that Britain will not publish an assessment of the economic benefits of CPTPP membership before requesting to join it - contrary to earlier promises.

Previous government economic analyses of Brexit have pointed to small boosts to economic output from additional trade deals."

 

5 minutes ago, placeholder said:

This passage from the article tells us all we need to know about the significance of such a deal:

"Reuters reported on Thursday that Britain will not publish an assessment of the economic benefits of CPTPP membership before requesting to join it - contrary to earlier promises.

Previous government economic analyses of Brexit have pointed to small boosts to economic output from additional trade deals."

 

 

Many a mickle makes a muckle.

1 minute ago, dabhand said:

 

Many a mickle makes a muckle.

A muckle many times bigger than the sum of all those mickles was a chunnel ride away.

• They left AUstralia when they surrendered to Europe,  We should double our tarriffs...just to make up for the Wool Meat Apples and all the other goods we used to provide them at favourable terms.

Welcome Back, Where the heck have you been.?

Now get to the back of the que

 

4 hours ago, smedly said:

great news 

I can see POTUS Biden rejoining the Partnership after POTUS Trump's withdrawal (Hillary said she would withdraw if elected POTUS). This partnership was to be an economic counter to China's Silk Road Asian partnership and reduce China economic intimidation of Asian-Pacific nations. Rejoining might give the US greater leverage in revived trade talks with China than under POTUS Trump.

What a farce. The predatory Brits - as usual - looking after no.1 without the slightest pretext of any interest in the trading nations of the Pacific and their geographic community, or in helping the smaller ones move up the economic ladder.

 

It would be in the interest of the Pacific countries already signed up (though the partnership is not yet operational) to veto British entry on the basis that they're not part of the Pacific community. Happy to do a trading deal, but not membership.

 

British membership could well in any case threaten Biden's thinking on Usofa joining up. I'm not sure the latter is really all that good an idea from the point of view of the smaller members, but it would certainly be more useful than having the Brits join up to veto anything they don't like.

 

 

This is something I hope the US joins once again. I think it was a bad day when Trump tore this pact up. While Trump was good in some ways, he never understood the positives of multilateralism.

16 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

What a farce. The predatory Brits - as usual - looking after no.1 without the slightest pretext of any interest in the trading nations of the Pacific and their geographic community, or in helping the smaller ones move up the economic ladder.

 

It would be in the interest of the Pacific countries already signed up (though the partnership is not yet operational) to veto British entry on the basis that they're not part of the Pacific community. Happy to do a trading deal, but not membership.

 

British membership could well in any case threaten Biden's thinking on Usofa joining up. I'm not sure the latter is really all that good an idea from the point of view of the smaller members, but it would certainly be more useful than having the Brits join up to veto anything they don't like.

 

 

Every country in the world does what it does in its own self-interest. It is the question of how they go about that - unilaterally or multi-laterally. 

 

I would definitely say they are doing this in their interests too in reference to the demographics of their population.

2 hours ago, placeholder said:

A muckle many times bigger than the sum of all those mickles was a chunnel ride away.

 

But at the end of the tunnel, is an ever-shrinking muckle, while all the other mickles are growing, inside a bigger muckle.    

1 minute ago, nauseus said:

 

But at the end of the tunnel, is an ever-shrinking muckle, while all the other mickles are growing, inside a bigger muckle.    

Not even the current govt believes that. 

 

ROFLMBO

 

"Reuters reported on Thursday that Britain will not publish an assessment of the economic benefits of CPTPP membership before requesting to join it - contrary to earlier promises."

 

Oh, what? Another lie? Shurely not ...

 

"Previous government economic analyses of Brexit have pointed to small boosts to economic output from additional trade deals."

 

As long as you don't take the losses into account, that even looks good ... everyone else except the economic nut jobs and Brittania Unchained gang see it rather differently though.

 

I know who I listen to when I'm looking for information and it certainly ain't those nut jobs.

 

Leaving the world's biggest trade bloc, customs union and single market only 21 miles away, to apply to join one on the other side of the world  55555555 .....

 

And anyway, how long before UK starts to poison that one as well?

2 hours ago, curlylekan said:

Every country in the world does what it does in its own self-interest. It is the question of how they go about that - unilaterally or multi-laterally. 

 

I would definitely say they are doing this in their interests too in reference to the demographics of their population.

 

After my life's experience I would say the UK is a poisoned pill I would not even entertain if I was in the Pacific Partnership deal. It's just not worth it.

 

Let the country finally accept that empire is gone and over, and it's time to look for a role more measured to its size. Like Johnny Rotten sang in the 70s - "Just another country." Nowt special.

 

It was often said Britain won the war but lost the peace. The last 4 years have proven that beyond doubt.

And Acheson said back in the 60s that UK had lost an empire but not yet found a role. Still true to this day.

 

Time to sit quietly and ponder one's past humbly, then return quietly to the human fold, rather than bragging, bragging, bragging, cheating and lying, lying and lying. That will get you nowhere, even with the Pacific, especially since they are former colonies. They will not be push overs as you imagine. They have experienced UK benevolence far differently to what you recall. Hint: the gun was pointing away from you.

 

Do you in the UK have a n y idea what the Brits did in Asia and SEA?

 

Enjoy.

 

7 hours ago, pegman said:

please show Boris on your a globe where the Pacific is in relationship to the UK.

 

Apart from many islands, Australia, New Zealand and Canada - still part of the British Commonwealth and all with Pacific coastlines!

5 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Apart from many islands, Australia, New Zealand and Canada - still part of the British Commonwealth and all with Pacific coastlines!

 

Have you added up the gross GDP of those 'Commonwealth' countries and former colonies? Do you really think they love you the way you think they do?

 

Hint: They've just seen how you treated the close neighbors and friends who hauled you out of the swamp mid-70s and helped make you a country to reckon with again. Especially since one of your biggest EU whinges was NOW that you were better off after years of EU largesse, you were a 'payer in' to the very same eastern, poorer EU countries whose membership YOU pushed.

 

Jesus wept.

 

Pacific Partnership beware - the septic island is toxic right now, and will be for many more years to come. Just look at who they allowed to become PM. Utterly toxic.

 

 

It is obvious that those welcoming this as some sort of post Brexit triumph have little idea about the rules and requirements of membership.

 

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

Quote

What does the CPTPP do?

The rights and obligations under the CPTPP fall into two categories:

• Rules: for example, on how countries should make new food safety regulations or whether they can ban the transfer of data to other CPTPP members. These are the same for all CPTPP parties (including any new members that may join).
• Market access: how far each CPTPP member will cut its tariffs, open up its services markets, liberalise visa conditions for business travellers, and so on. Each member has its own schedules of commitments. In some cases the commitments are offered to all other members, while in others they are restricted to specific negotiating partners.

 

Looks very familiar!

 

Good move. 

Is the CPTPP Commission like the European Commission?

Not really. Unlike in the EU, there will be no new ‘CPTPP regulations’ developed over time. The CPTPP Commission is simply a gathering of representatives of CPTPP member states. It meets for short sessions about twice a year to discuss issues arising from the agreement, and to set procedures for the accession of new states and rules of conduct for dispute settlement.

There is no ‘CPTPP Court’ equivalent to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) either: if a dispute arises between the parties, an ad-hoc arbitration panel is convened.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-cptpp

52 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

It is obvious that those welcoming this as some sort of post Brexit triumph have little idea about the rules and requirements of membership.

 

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

 

Looks very familiar!

 

This one sounds familiar too! (From your linked source)

"It provides a single set of rules of origin, and allows content from all CPTPP countries to be ‘cumulated’. If a good has to have at least 70% ‘CPTPP content’ to qualify for preferential tariffs, for instance, that 70% can come from any combination of CPTPP countries."

 

I can imagine the nightmare for an industrial UK company trying to get preferential tariffs from both the EU and the CPTPP. ????

7 hours ago, BusyB said:

 

ROFLMBO

 

"Reuters reported on Thursday that Britain will not publish an assessment of the economic benefits of CPTPP membership before requesting to join it - contrary to earlier promises."

 

Oh, what? Another lie? Shurely not ...

 

"Previous government economic analyses of Brexit have pointed to small boosts to economic output from additional trade deals."

 

As long as you don't take the losses into account, that even looks good ... everyone else except the economic nut jobs and Brittania Unchained gang see it rather differently though.

 

I know who I listen to when I'm looking for information and it certainly ain't those nut jobs.

 

Leaving the world's biggest trade bloc, customs union and single market only 21 miles away, to apply to join one on the other side of the world  55555555 .....

 

And anyway, how long before UK starts to poison that one as well?

 

We left the EU because of the Political Interference, it was fine originally as just a trading partnership.

The EU is essentially, the USSR with money.  Now without money, because they won't be getting one of the largest sums from UK.

 

The Asia Pacific trading block could be a great benefit from Brexit.

 

We have the best Vaccine rates in Europe, maybe not because of Brexit, but as a consequence of Brexit.  An unexpected bonus already.