The APPG for Trade Justice will meet in Parliament on Tuesday 20th June at 16:30 – 17:30 to discuss the terms of the UK's accession to CPTPP.
The UK’s accession to CPTPP
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a trading bloc encompassing 11 countries in the Pacific region. Members include Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. The UK formally applied to join the bloc at the end of January 2021, and on 22 June, published its negotiation objectives and scoping assessment. An agreement in principle was signed on 31st March 2023 with full accession anticipated in the coming months.
Given the UK’s opaque processes for negotiating and ratifying agreements, however, opportunities for parliamentarians, civil society and the public to scrutinise the terms of the UK’s accession have to date been minimal. This is despite the wide range of policy areas that CPTPP will cover; CPTPP contains ISDS provisions, which impinge on governments’ right to regulate, and concerns have been raised with regard to the potential impact of the agreement in terms of deforestation, workers’ rights, and public health. CPTPP membership will have disparate impacts across regions and sectors, and it is important that these are properly understood.
We will be joined by a panel of experts on free trade agreements and their implications across different policy areas, who will share their views on the potential impact CPTPP could have, and what further scrutiny is needed. We will hear from:
Stuart Trew, Canadian Centre for Policy Studies
Dr Ben Richardson, University of Warwick
Perrine Fournier, Fern
Dr Courtney McNamara, University of Newcastle
Space in the room is limited, and therefore if you are interested in attending, please RSVP to leo@tjm.og.uk.
