Japan backs UK in trans-Pacific

Japan will back the UK in its bid for a trans-Pacific trade deal after Brexit, a Japanese minister has assured International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

The UK recently announced hopes to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), also known as TPP11, but experts warned that blueprints for life after Brexit made a deal “unlikely”.

But Japanese minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tokyo would “spare no efforts to support the UK” in joining CPTPP in a meeting with Dr Fox on his trip to Japan.

Mr Motegi said: “Japan will not spare any effort to support the UK, including providing relevant information, and acting as an intermediary to you in relation to other TPP member countries.”

Dr Fox welcomed Mr Motegi’s support, which follows the recent EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Theresa May and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Dr Fox will meet Mr Abe and colleagues, British businesses and Japanese investors during the visit to discuss future trading relationships.

The CPTPP is a new free trade agreement bringing together 11 of the world’s fastest-growing economies, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and Singapore. Japan accounts for nearly half of the CPTPP’s GDP, and is the UK’s fifth largest trading partner.