The United Kingdom officially became the first European nation to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), marking a significant expansion of the trade bloc. In 2023, CPTPP members signed the Accession Protocol to facilitate the UK’s entry.

About Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

Genesis: Originally established as a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) among 11 countries, it was signed in March 2018 in Santiago, Chile. The CPTPP came into effect on December 30, 2018, after the United States withdrew from its predecessor, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), in 2017.

Membership: Now includes 12 member nations, with UK joining countries – Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Significance: The bloc members have combined economies representing 14.4 percent of global gross domestic product, at approximately US$15.8 trillion as of 2024. This makes the CPTPP one of the world’s largest free trade areas by GDP, along with the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the European single market, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It grants its members access to a combined market of over 500 million people.