Kemi Badenoch hails ‘huge opportunities’ as she signs Indo-Pacific trade deal

Kemi Badenoch hailed ‘huge opportunities’ today as she signed a major post-Brexit deal for the UK to join the Indo-Pacific trade bloc.

The Trade Secretary put pen to paper on membership of the CCTPP group made up of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. 

The area includes 500million people and has a combined GDP of around £12trillion. 

After the ceremony in Auckland, Ms Badenoch said: ‘This will be a big boost for British businesses and open up huge opportunities and unparalleled access to a market of over 500 million people in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.’

Rishi Sunak said the government is ‘delivering on our Brexit freedoms to grow the economy’.

‘If we hadn’t defeated Keir Starmer’s campaign to reverse Brexit, this simply would not have been possible,’ he added.

Officials underlined the importance of the deal despite the distance from the UK by pointing out that one in every 100 workers here was employed by a business headquartered in a CPTPP member nation in 2019 – equivalent to over 400,000 jobs across the country.

After the ceremony in Auckland, Ms Badenoch said: ‘This will be a big boost for British businesses and open up huge opportunities and unparalleled access to a market of over 500 million people in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.’

The Government will now move to ratify the agreement, which will include scrutiny by Parliament, while other CPTPP countries complete their own legislative processes to confirm the UK’s accession.

Officials estimate it will come into force in the second half of 2024, at which point the UK becomes a voting member of the bloc and businesses can benefit from it.

While Britain already has trade agreements with the CPTPP members apart from Malaysia and Brunei, officials said it will deepen existing arrangements, with 99% of current UK goods exports to the bloc eligible for zero tariffs.

Dairy producers will gain export opportunities to Canada, Chile, Japan and Mexico, while beef, pork and poultry producers will get better access to Mexico’s market, according to officials.

But critics say the impact will be limited, with official estimates suggesting it will add just £1.8billion a year to the economy after 10 years, representing less than 1 per cemt of UK GDP.

The deal represents a continuation of the post-Brexit policy ’tilt’ towards the Indo-Pacific, which is expected to be home to around half the world’s middle-class consumers by 2035.

CPTPP area includes 500million people and has a combined GDP of around £12trillion