IV.II. BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AIMS

‘Beyond the Galapagos Syndrome ’ : Mapping the Future of UK-Japan Economic Cooperation

Luke Cavanaugh (ed.), Olivia Bisbee, Owain Cooke, Kezzie Florin-Seon, Elizabeth Steel

The CPTPP, a free-trade agreement currently involving 11 countries from the

Pacific Rim, came into force in 2018 aer 8 years of negotiations. 69 While the US

was a major member of the initial TPP negotiations and agreement, former

President Donald Trump withdrew America from the agreement in 2016,

leaving the remaining members to rework the TPP into the CPTPP. Once

launched, the CPTPP almost completely removed tariffs between members

(with exceptions for select highly sensitive goods), has a single set of rules of

origin, and outlines numerous other rules and market access measures. With its

current membership, the CPTPP accounts for approximately 13% of global GDP,

and is likely to continue to grow as numerous countries have now formally and

informally indicated their desire to accede to the group.

70

Among these applicants is the UK, which officially applied to join the group on 1

February 2021. While the UK already has trade agreements with 7 of the 11

CPTPP members, it is hoped that joining the group will increase British access

to growing markets in the region and increase British presence and influence in

the Indo-Pacific. 71 The UK’ s exports to the current members of the CPTPP is

expected to increase by 65% by 2030, amounting to £37bn: membership in the

69 Current founding members are Japan, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam.

70 James Kane,

‘Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)’ , Institute for Government (February 2, 2021) https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-cptpp accessed 17 October 2021 71 Jagannath Panda, 'Japan-UK: 'Progressive ' Ties and a Case for Britain in the CPTPP' , (April 13,2021) https://isdp.eu/content/uploads/2021/04/Japan-UK-Progressive-Ties-and-a-Case-for-Britain-in-th e-CPTPP-IB-13.04.21.pdf accessed 17 October 2021 33