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The UK wants to join a Pacific trade deal – why that might not be a risk worth taking

Posted on 24 June 2021

Dr Jappe Eckhardt's opinion piece in the Conversation

Dr Jappe Eckhardt's and Louise Curran's opinion piece "The UK wants to join a Pacific trade deal – why that might not be a risk worth taking" features on The Conversation this week.

The UK government has begun negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), suggesting that joining this trade pact is a positive result of Brexit.

Jappe says "Becoming a party to this agreement will draw the UK into a power play between regional powers and may complicate other important alliances, including with India, which chose to stay out of both the CPTPP and RCEP.

The rush to join CPTPP therefore seems both economically peculiar and potentially geopolitically dangerous. It is perhaps not surprising that the UK government is in no hurry to publish its impact assessment."