UK Seeing Rise in CPTPP Trade Ahead of Formal Accession

U.K. exports of chocolate, gin, whiskey, sparkling wine and other “festive treats” increased “significantly” last year after the country’s signing in July of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 2307170023), the Department for Business and Trade said Dec. 28. The agency said those goods are being “ordered en masse” by CPTPP countries, especially Singapore, Japan, Mexico and Malaysia. Exports of Scotch whiskey to Singapore have risen by 31% and to Malaysia by 43%, the U.K. said, while sparkling wine exports to Japan have increased by 140%

Although the U.K. isn’t set to formally join CPTPP until this year, British food and drink producers are “already reaping the rewards of the UK’s tilt towards the Indo-Pacific,” Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said. Once the U.K. becomes a “fully-fledged CPTPP member,” Badenoch noted that tariffs on more than 99% of the country’s goods will be eliminated.