Its failure to secure a UK-US FTA saw UK interest in joining several multilateral FTAs, including the CPTPP. As the World Trade Organization only permits regional multilateral trade agreements (all original members are located on either side of the Pacific Ocean), the UK had to rely on its sovereignty over the Pitcairn Islands, located in the southern Pacific, to qualify to join the CPTPP.
On July 16, the UK signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), two years after first formally applying to join the Indo-Pacific trade bloc. The UK will be the first non-original member and European country to join the agreement since its ratification in 2018.
Following its withdrawal from the EU in January 2020, the UK began negotiations on several free trade agreements (FTAs) to remove or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, in an effort both to establish new agreements and to replace previous EU trade agreements.
