UK will submit request to join CPTPP trading bloc soon, trade minister says

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will soon submit its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, trade minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday.

Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around the world and sees the CPTPP as an important pillar of its new independent trade policy.

“We will shortly submit our formal request to join this free trade area,” Truss told a City & Financial Global conference.

The CPTPP is a trade agreement involving Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The agreement removes most tariffs.

Truss described the bloc as “one of the world’s most dynamic trading areas”.

(Reporting by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper)