PRESS RELEASE : UK to join CPTPP by 15 December [August 2024]

The press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 29 August 2024.

Following Peru’s ratification of our deal to join the bloc, the agreement will now officially enter into force by 15 December 2024.

The UK has secured the sixth and final ratification required to trigger our accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) before the end of this year.

CPTPP is a free trade area spanning five continents and almost 600 million people once the UK joins. Following Peru’s ratification of our deal to join the bloc, the agreement will now officially enter into force by 15 December 2024.

More than 99% of current UK goods exports to CPTPP members will be tariff-free once the deal enters into effect, helping businesses export more to CPTPP markets and contributing to the government’s priority of driving economic growth. By 2040, the agreement could boost the UK economy by around £2 billion annually.

Before Peru, five other CPTPP members ratified the terms of the UK’s accession: Japan, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Vietnam. This means the agreement will come into force with those members by 15 December, and subsequently with other members as they ratify. We continue to work closely with the remaining member countries who are in the process of ratifying the deal.

As the first country to accede to this agreement the UK will be well positioned to shape its future development, from influencing the development of the CPTPP rulebook to championing the group’s expansion to new economies.

Minister of State for Trade Policy Douglas Alexander said:

This is good news for UK businesses, who are now one step closer to being able to take advantage of the opportunities our membership of CPTPP will bring.

My message to businesses is to get in touch with the Department for Business and Trade to find out how CPTPP could benefit your business, if you haven’t already.

We’re extremely grateful to all the CPTPP partners that have already ratified our accession – Japan, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Vietnam and now Peru – and look forward to more doing so over the coming months.

More information

• Businesses can contact the Export Digital Enquiry Service to find out how CPTPP can benefit them.
• Source for UK GDP growth: Methodology and data sources described in the CPTPP Impact Assessment, published July 2023. Increase is compared to projected levels of trade in 2040, without the agreement, measured in 2021 prices.