Truss has eye set on a £9TRILLION market
BRITISH businesses are being urged to shift their focus from the EU to establish “closer links with old Commonwealth friends and fast-growing Asia-pacific markets”.
Trade Secretary Liz Truss, inset, has hailed last week’s deal with Australia as a key part of getting Britain into the £9trillion Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which comprises 11 countries including Canada and Japan.
She has made it clear that it is the first part of changing Britain’s international focus from being Euro-centric to embracing the rest of the world.
Ms Truss believes there is a prize of a 65 per cent increase in trade with
CPTPP countries over the next decade within
Britain’s grasp.
She also said that a deal with
New Zealand, another member of the
CPTPP, is just a few months away from being completed, while experts have told the Sunday
Express that a pact with Canada is likely to be signed within the next year.
Ms Truss said: “The Australia deal paves the way for us to join the Trans-pacific
Partnership, which will help our farmers and businesses reach some of the biggest and fastestgrowing markets in the world.
“Asia-pacific
where the richest opportunities lie for global Britain.”
But lobbying groups for farmers and Remain supporters have tried to attack the trade deal with Australia.
And the TUC sent a briefing to media outlets and politicians claiming that entering the CPTPP will be bad for Britain.
But sources close to Ms Truss have noted that the very people who attacked Brexit for being “parochial and inward-looking” are now attacking Britain for having a global outlook.
The source said: “We engage and consult widely before, during and after negotiations. The idea that
CPTPP will undermine workers
or harm Britain is nonsense – total scaremongering. It’s funny how people who complained Britain would be inward-looking and defensive after Brexit are now complaining about it being global.”
According to the Department for International Trade, both the Australia deal, agreed last week, and the New Zealand deal, which could be concluded in the next few months, are key stepping stones into the bigger CPTTP trade area – which covers £9trillion of GDP and over half a billion consumers.
It has 11 member nations, from old allies such as Canada and Australia, to huge economies like Japan, and fast-growing Asian markets such as Malaysia andvietnam.
If Britain joins, the country would get all the benefits of being in a modern free trade area, with lower tariffs for exports such as
whisky and cars and better access for our services and tech firms.
But unlike the EU, the CPTPP would not force Britain to cede control over its laws, borders or money, give up regulatory sovereignty or agree to free movement of people.
Formal negotiations are expected to launch shortly, with a full economic impact assessment. Parliament will get to scrutinise the deal when it is signed.
The source close to Ms Truss said: “Joining the Trans-pacific Partnership is one of the biggest opportunities of Brexit. Liz sees it as the big, glittering trade prize.
“It’s a £9trillion free trade area but membership doesn’t require us to give up sovereignty or lose control of our laws, borders or money as we did with the EU.”