We signed a big trade deal last week. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, known more simply as CPTPP, is a trading block of Pacific nations. Of course, some of the nations in CPTPP we already have a trade deal with – such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and others. But when we signed the deal, now that we are members, we have joined a club that is as big as the EU.
The Asia Pacific region will be the engine of economic growth for our planet for the foreseeable future. The Association of South East Asian Nations – ASEAN – comprises ten countries and around 550 million people. At current trajectories, it will be a bigger economic block than the EU’s 27 nations before 2050. That may sound like a long way off, but the growth rate provides extraordinary opportunity for a country like the UK to seize. Since leaving the EU, we have secured the coveted dialogue partner status with ASEAN, something the EU is still struggling with. Four ASEAN nations – Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam – are members of CPTPP.
It’s no secret that I was against leaving the EU, campaigning forlornly for the remain team. But given that we voted to leave, I have always taken the view that we must make the best of the position we find ourselves in. Joining CPTPP is absolutely the perfect example of seizing that opportunity.
There are naysayers who have pointed out that we are not in the Pacific, or that we had a great relationship with the EU. But a champion ice hockey player was quoted over the weekend and saying he “skates to where the puck is going, not where it is now”. It’s a good motto to live by. The young, vibrant and well-educated citizens of Asia are where the economic puck is going.
What do we sell to them? All sorts.
I was in Vietnam recently in my role as PM’s Trade Envoy. I met with City UK, who are helping the government establish a financial services hub in Ho Chi Minh City. We are, after all, the best in the world at financial services. In Thailand, Triumph assembles motorcycles, the hub for Triumph sales across the region. The list goes on.
CPTPP, ASEAN dialogue status, other trade deals. These are all Brexit dividends. The immediate reward may look meagre, but the future will be extraordinary.