Britain officially became the 12th member of a trans-Pacific trade pact which includes Japan, Australia, and Canada on Sunday as it seeks to deepen ties in the region and build its global trade links after leaving the European Union.
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Britain announced last year it would join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in its biggest trade deal since Brexit.
The accession means Britain will be able to apply CPTPP trade rules and lower tariffs with eight of the 11 existing members from Sunday – Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The agreement enters into force with Australia on December 24, and will apply with the final two members – Canada and Mexico – 60 days after they ratify it.
The pact represents Britain’s first free trade deals with Malaysia and Brunei, but while it had agreements with the other countries, CPTPP provisions go further, especially in giving companies choices on how to use “rules of origin” provisions.
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The CPTPP does not have a single market for goods or services, and so regulatory harmonisation is not required, unlike the EU, whose trading orbit Britain left at the end of 2020.