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Britain has signed a deal to join one of the world’s largest trade blocs in a move it said would help Britain take advantage of its “post-Brexit freedoms”.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an 11-country trade bloc in the Asia-Pacific region, approved the UK’s accession last night after two years of negotiations over quotas and tariffs.
The UK will become the first country to join the CPTPP since the group was founded in 2018, and ministers said the deal would add £1.8bn a year to the UK economy by the end of the decade. .
The deal is the first major deal signed by new Commerce Secretary Kemi Badenok, who said it would serve as a “gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region.”
The government claims that joining the group will boost British exports by lowering tariffs on goods such as cheese, cars, chocolate, machinery, gin and whiskey.
The prime minister also hailed the deal as an example of “the real economic benefits of post-Brexit freedom” and said it would help the UK economy “seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation”.
Critics, however, have emphasized that the economic benefits of CPTPP are limited. Because the UK already has trade deals with the majority of its existing members, and this deal adds only her 0.08% to her GDP.
The new deal also sparked a backlash from activists who called the UK’s decision to lower tariffs on imports of products such as palm oil “outrageous”.
here I Let’s take a look at potential issues and controversies regarding the new Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement:
limited economic benefits
The government’s own estimates suggest that joining the CPTPP would only increase the size of the UK economy by about 0.08% over the next decade.
Critics say this will do little to offset the estimated 4% decline in potential UK economic growth brought about by Brexit, according to figures from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), which provides forecasts to the government. points out.
It is understood that the £1.8bn annual gains to the UK economy from the CPTPP trade deal will likely be ineffective until the full benefits of joining the bloc take effect in ten years’ time.
David Hennig, UK director of the European Center for International Politics and Economy, said the partnership was a “shallow” trade deal and “like the existing free trade agreements with nine of the 11 members, it will primarily focus on reducing tariffs. We are focused on,” he said.
The UK already has trade agreements with Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Peru and Vietnam, which make up the majority of the CPTPP’s 11 member states.
Hennig said the deal “could bring modest benefits to the UK economy, mainly from the reduction of trade barriers with Malaysia”.
Brunei, the only other member of the CPTPP with which the UK does not have an existing trade deal, is expected to bring minimal benefits to the UK through the new deal.
However, Henig said imports from countries like Vietnam could “increase over time” and provide more lucrative returns in the long run.
The government believes the new agreement goes further than existing trade agreements with member countries and has more liberal rules of origin, making it easier to trade things like auto parts with countries such as Singapore. It is understood that
Also, more economies are likely to join the block, which means the UK can gain access to new markets. Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ecuador have applied to join his CPTPP, with Thailand and South Korea showing interest.
coconut oil
Charities are hitting back at news that a new Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement will ease tariffs on palm oil from Malaysia.
Greenpeace UK forestry chief Daniela Montalto described the deal as “outrageous”, adding that lowering tariffs on palm oil would only encourage further destruction.
Claire Oxborough, senior sustainability analyst for the campaign group Friends of the Earth, also warned that the trade deal would undermine Britain’s commitment to eradicating deforestation from its supply chains.
Oxborrow said: Due to the state of emergency in our natural world, stricter measures must be taken to ensure that products bought and sold in the UK comply with stringent environmental and human rights laws. “
workers’ rights
Unions have expressed concern that the new agreement could make the UK complicit in the exploitation of workers in member countries.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the deal would authorize the exploitation of workers in “Vietnam and Brunei, where independent unions are banned, and Malaysia, where migrant workers are subject to forced labor.” rice field.
Labor’s shadow secretary for international trade, Nick Thomas Symonds, said ministers still needed to “answer important questions” and that Britain’s trade policy was to “strive democracy, workers’ rights and “Environmental protection must be promoted all over the world.”
legal dispute
Trade unions also denounced a clause in the new agreement that would allow large companies to sue the UK government behind closed doors if they believe their profits have been harmed by changes in laws and regulations.
Nowa says: “The deal will allow multinationals to sue the UK government in secret court for introducing policies that threaten their interests, including raising the minimum wage and taking energy companies into public ownership. There is a possibility.”
The UK has already entered into several similar agreements and has yet to lose an investor-state dispute case, so it is understood that the government is fairly cool about this provision.
beef
Britain also agreed to lower tariffs on foods such as bananas, rice and crab sticks as part of a new trade deal, following requests from Peru, Vietnam and Singapore.
However, the decision to increase imports of beef from other Member States has raised concerns over potential welfare concerns.
Hormone-treated beef remains banned under the new Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement after a last-minute dispute with Canada, so concerns are largely unfounded.
Under the new deal, Canada will be allowed to export 13 kilotonnes of beef to the UK each year.
Canada had been pressuring the UK to withdraw its ban on imports of hormone-treated beef, but the request was ultimately rejected and ministers said the UK’s ban on hormone-treated beef would remain absolute. I claimed there was.