Today in Brexitland, April 1, 2023

Is the UK joining CPTPP a good thing or a bad thing? It’s sort of neither

This week, the United Kingdom agreed to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), with accession to the trade group expected to happen later this year, after it is ratified by the existing countries and of course, the UK parliament.

So long as it doesn’t all come derailed somehow, when it officially joins, the UK will become the 12th member of CPTPP. There are good things and bad things about joining this trade bloc, which I will now attempt to detail. One thing it does not do, as I will explain, is put to bed any discussion about Brexit’s merit or lack thereof. Nor does it make rejoining the EU in the future off limits in any way.