Today the UK signed an agreement to join a powerful trading alliance with 11 Pacific countries, including Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and Peru. The agreement is the first accession to the trans-Pacific trade pact since it was created in 2018 and paves the way for members to consider other requests, including those from China and Taiwan.

The signing was part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) meeting held this weekend in New Zealand. Today, ministers from member states will meet to discuss a range of issues, including how to follow up on the new request and review the agreement itself.

British Business and Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch said her country was very pleased to become the first new member of the CPTPP. “This is a modern and ambitious agreement and our joining this exciting bloc shows that the UK’s doors are open for business,” Badenoch said. The British government has not yet ratified the agreement.

The CPTPP is a landmark trade pact agreed in 2018 between 11 countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Britain will become the 12th member of the pact to reduce trade barriers in the Pacific. This is an important step for British international policy following the UK’s exit from the European Union in 2020.

China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ecuador have also applied to join the CPTPP.

“We continue to discuss how to collectively advance the accession process in a way that reflects all our interests and maintains the high standards set at home,” the CPTPP statement said.

China’s application to join the pact is now next on the list if processed in the order it was received, but the country faces a number of obstacles to joining the pact. The CPTPP requires countries to eliminate or significantly reduce tariffs, make strong commitments to open services and investment markets, and maintain advanced regulations on competition, intellectual property rights, and protection of foreign companies.

Damien O’Connor, New Zealand’s Trade Minister who chairs the CPTPP meeting, said at a news conference he did not know when a decision on future accession would be taken. “This is a complex area,” O’Connor said of membership applications, adding that no specific state applications were discussed on Sunday. China opposes Taiwan’s request.

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