News
Having concluded the negotiations for accession of the 13th nation, Costa Rica, and negotiations being underway with Uruguay to become the 14th, the ministers of the 12 full members of the CPTPP (which includes the UK) have unanimously decided to move forward with a further three nations - Indonesia, The Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.
The joint statement released by the Singaporean government on Friday, outlines that the 12 current members of the CPTPP have reviewed the applications from Indonesia, The Philippines and UAE and found them to be in line with the three "Auckland Principles" of accession countries, which are:
- Preparedness: The capability and readiness to meet the CPTPP agreement's ambitious, high standards
- Compliance: A demonstrated history of complying with their existing international trade obligations
- Consensus: Acknowledgment that all accession decisions are completely dependent on the consensus of existing CPTPP parties
Reflecting on the current and potential future benefits of CPTPP accession for the UK, it is worth noting that not only is the CPTPP agreement more comprehensive ("better") than all of the EUs trade deals that exist with existing CPTPP member states, but also that it provides trade deals with countries that the EU does not currently have a deal with at all (Malaysia, Brunei and Australia). The addition of Costa Rica in recent weeks expands the list of countries for whom the UK will have a better trade deal with than the EU, and when Uruguay negotiations conclude this will likely also be the case (Uruguay is a member of Mercosur, which has concluded negotiations with the EU, but the deal is likely to take many years to be ratified if ever).
The EU does not have trade deals with any of the three new acceding countries, so the inclusion of these three would further solidify the benefits of EU departure as regards free trade with the rest of the world.
