'The second point, which has been widely ignored since Brexit, is that accession to the CPTPP highlights a major scrutiny deficit in the U.K. Parliament. Namely that Parliament is not asked to consent to this new agreement and has no veto.'

I see its "this trade deal is going to be really amazing / bad" morning, and I need to summon all my centrist trade energies in the hope a few people might see through the hype both ways and realise that UK joining CPTPP doesn't make that much impact any which way.

Saturday 20 February was the 50th day since Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect. Anyone expecting it to settle all questions, or even most of the details, of how we will do business with the EU from now on will be mightily disappointed.

A Scottish Conservative MSP was left floundering on BBC Newsnight last night as the live audience revealed what they really thought about the state of the country right now after Brexit.

Claim that UK farming at risk if ‘soft’ approach pursued with countries with ‘less qualms’ about quality.

British PM is now more likely to push for 'harder' divorce from EU.

he OBR pours cold water on hopes for a big boost from the Pacific trade deal. / Have you ever wondered how the UK, based firmly in the north Atlantic, managed to join the free trade area known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)? After all, as the name suggests, it is for countries around the Pacific.

Boris Johnson’s free trade deal with Australia could cause devastation on a scale with the Highland Clearances, a former Scottish Government minister has claimed.

The UK left the EU at the end of 2020, and according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, Brexit has already led to a significant slump in trade between the EU and the UK... / Brexit supporters endorsed the idea of CANZUK – an alliance between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Brendan Donnelly and John Stevens review the British decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP. They believe that this decision will bring at best minimal benefits to the UK and some disadvantages. Its importance is being overstated by the British government simply as a distraction from the unfolding difficulties of Brexit.

Brexit is to blame for the Dover travel misery blighting Britons’ Easter holiday trips to the Continent, a senior Tory MP said on Monday.

'Global Britain' could increase emissions by the equivalent of 44,000 transatlantic flights, research found.

The impact of Brexit on people’s earnings could be ‘substantial’, say experts. / Millions of workers in Britain will be about £1,300 worse off a year due to Brexit, leading experts have said.

Tokyo is the biggest winner of the UK’s accession to the CPTPP.

The UK’S membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership offers little gain for the British economy.

The U.K.'s anticipated accession to an encompassing trans-Pacific economic agreement in July will provide an "imperceptibly small" boost economically and will not compensate for its exit from the European Union, said Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, in a recent interview with Nikkei.

UK preparing to lift tariffs on palm oil from Malaysia as price for joining CPTPP trade agreement. / Britain is preparing to sign off on a post-Brexit trade deal that campaigners say will encourage further destruction of nature, threaten the habitat of orangutans in Malaysia and make a mockery of the government’s claims of being committed to tackling deforestation abroad.

New Brexit restrictions have had a ‘disastrous’ impact on the ability of UK breeding companies to sell their stock abroad, the Farming Minister was told at the Young NPA National event in London last week. 

Top trade experts say conditions for hidden benefits claimed by Kemi Badenoch are ‘highly unlikely’.

The Independent revealed earlier this year government’s predicted 0.08% boost risked being an overestimate. / Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was mocked for a prediction the deal with Asia-Pacific countries would grow the economy by 0.08%.

The vision of post-Brexit Britain was one of international trade deals that would propel the country into a new era of prosperity. That vision of “Global Britain” is now dead. Thomas Sampson argues that the only viable alternative is a closer trade relationship with the EU.

Academics say any gains will depend on the possible future expansion of the CTPPP, which as things stand looks both unlikely and undesirable.

CPTPP member countries have a combined population of 500 million and GDP of £9 trillion. For reference, although the EU is a similar size, with a GDP of £11 trillion, the value of our total trade to the EU is much higher, at £557 billion.

'It is hard to predict how full Brexit would play out, because this scale of multiple simultaneous renegotiations of global trade agreements is unprecedented – and no country has ever left the EU. It certainly can’t be assumed that Britain is bound to get quick and good deals because it is a large economy.'

It was one year ago today that Britain left the European Union, and one month ago that we also left the EU’s Single Market and customs union.

Alarm raised after Nissan decision to halt expansion of Sunderland car plant.

After holding off some formidable competition, Michelle Mone has claimed the coveted title of The New European’s Liar of the Year for 2023.

The ability for Parliament to shape and scrutinise trade deals is weaker now than when the UK was a member of the European Union, former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has said.

NHS costs, food standards and intellectual property rights must be protected in any deal by the UK to join a major international trade agreement, a Lords committee has told ministers in a new report.

'The Brexiters have no more idea in private than they do in public about what they are doing. Predictions based upon their concealed intent project on to them a competence they simply don’t possess.'

New Zealand now stands between the United Kingdom and its hopes of entering the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (CPTPP).

Having left the largest internal market in the world, the search is on to give the impression that there are many new trade partnerships out there to compensate for the already very real loss of cross-Channel trade. / At the moment, Britain’s trade with the CPTPP countries is less than our trade with Germany alone.

Hailed by Tory MPs as a Brexit benefit, CPTPP membership actually turns the UK into a willing pawn in Washington’s geopolitical game.

The UK egg industry has reacted with disbelief that import tariffs on eggs and egg products are to be phased out following the government announcement that the UK is set to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

"Last month we joined consensus on the formation of a working group to negotiate the UK’s accession to CPTPP. Other economies will be able to join CPTPP too. CPTPP is our highest quality agreement. Those aspiring to join will have to be able to meet its high standards."

Government criticised over ‘indefensible’ proposal that could undermine climate efforts while yielding benefit of only £1.38m.

The commercial departments of Brexit-supporting newspapers know the damage being caused to the UK economy, and newspaper advertising revenues, by Brexit. Their editorial colleagues continue to support it anyway.

The UK is using its post-Brexit role in global digital trade and data governance to promote economic growth and deregulation through free trade agreements and domestic data protection reforms.

The past 12 months have been littered with grandiose claims about the benefits of Brexit and the ability of the UK to demand what it wants from the EU. But the sad and inescapable conclusion is that none of those benefits exist and that the UK has been forced into a number of embarrassing retreats and compromises.

A CERTAIN dreary and dismal familiarity has developed around the Tories’ desperate efforts to secure trade deals with countries outwith the European Union, having decided to turn their back on the UK’s biggest export market.

So far, in the first two months of Brexit, the following industries have indicated that they have been harmed: Aerospace; Airlines; Architecture; Art and Antiques; Beer; Bees; Cattle and horse breeding; Charities; Cheese; Chemicals; Cars; Classic Cars; Construction; Cosmetics and Perfume; e-Commerce; Fabrics; Fashion; Ferry services; Film and TV production; Financial Services; ...

Malaysia stands to gain from free palm oil exports but few other benefits seen. / "The impact appears mainly cosmetic, for the U.K. to show it made a trade deal after Brexit." / "No one in Asia is taking the pact very seriously."

U.K. investment of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to smooth the passage of goods over its new post-Brexit border failed to prevent a slump in trade with the European Union.

Confidential documents cannot be revealed until five years after a deal is in force.

However, disenchantment with Brexit has been one of the most notable trends of 2022 with a feeling that it has not lived up to the promises made at the time of the referendum. / Two thirds or 65% of British people think Brexit has gone badly compared to just 21% who think it has gone well according to an Opinium survey in early December.

The UK’s approach to trade since it left the European Union lacks substantial objectives beyond signing as many free trade agreements (FTAs) as possible, and has now hit a dead end, according to new research from The Economy 2030 Inquiry.

Forecasts suggest the UK will be 15 years late in hitting £1 trillion annual export target set by David Cameron before the Brexit referendum.

Deals to ensure UK can go on trading with non-EU countries after Brexit transition must be laid before parliament by Wednesday.

Britain will submit a request to join a trans-Pacific trading bloc grouping 11 countries before it has published an assessment of the benefits of membership, British officials told Reuters.

The UK will be told to lift its ban on hormone-treated beef to achieve its post-Brexit dream of joining a key trade bloc, a leaked government memo suggests.

Confrontation between London and Ottawa at talks led to other countries ‘basically throwing their hands in the air.’

The UK’s post-European Union (EU) membership trade negotiations mean that Brexit is anything but the finished article.

James O’Brien asked Kemi Badenoch if "she's seen a map", as he argued that the trans-Pacific alliance is a weak alternative to the EU.

The UK’s trade agreement with Australia led to British farmers and associations voicing concerns about unfair competition and a lowering of food standards.

Just seven months after singing its praises, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is attempting to rewrite the Brexit deal he signed with the European Union.

Hidden in the small print of a technical document published by the Department for International Trade is an admission that officials could have juiced up the figures.

Rachel Donald looks at how the Trade Minister’s justification for a zero-tariff trade deal with Malaysia only accelerates global deforestation.

Goodbye, food standards. Hello, corporate lobbyists. Why are we doing this, for no real economic benefit?

On fifth anniversary of referendum, nation still deeply divided by decision to leave EU.