Britain will apply for membership in the CPTPP trading bloc

As part of its post-Brexit development plans, the United Kingdom will request accession to the Pacific Free Trade Agreement, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This was announced by the British Ministry of International Trade, the AFP agency said on Sunday. On Monday, Secretary of Commerce Liz Truss plans to officially apply for the United Kingdom to join the agreement, which was signed in 2018 by 201 countries - Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. Negotiations between the United Kingdom and members of the CPTPP are expected to begin this year, the ministry said. "It will mean lower tariffs for car and whiskey manufacturers and better access for our excellent service providers, securing quality jobs and greater prosperity for people here and at home," Truss explained. "One year after we leave the EU, we are building new partnerships that will bring huge economic benefits to the people of Britain," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The CPTPP was launched in 2019 to remove trade barriers between 11 countries representing nearly 500 million consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, in order to face China's growing economic influence. The United States, one of the main supporters of the Pacific bloc under former President Barack Obama, withdrew from the partnership in 2017 during the reign of then-President Donald Trump, AFP added.