UK-Asia trade deal to boost UK economy by 0.08%
The UK has signed a trade deal with 11 Asia and Pacific nations, including Australia, Canada, and Japan.
This deal will help UK exporters by lowering tariffs on products like cheese, cars, and chocolate.
The agreement, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), will create a market of around 500 million people.
CPTPP was established in 2018 and includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
The 11 members of CPTPP account for around 13% of the world’s income and after 21 months of negotiations, the UK has become the first European country to join.
However, joining the trade bloc is only expected to add 0.08% to the size of the UK’s economy in the next 10 years.
The UK already has free trade deals with most of the members, so the gains from joining the CPTPP are expected to be modest.
The government said this is the UK’s biggest trade deal since Brexit, but the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has previously estimated that Brexit could reduce the UK’s potential economic growth by about 4% in the long term.