Why Britain’s new CPTPP trade deal will not make up for Brexit

A cargo dock from above.

The UK recently announced that it will join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), giving British businesses access to the 11 other members of the Indo-Pacific trade bloc and bringing its combined GDP to £11 trillion.

While some commentators have suggested the deal could make up for Brexit, Dr Huw Edwards of Loughborough Business School has outlined the problem with this fanfare, as the government’s own economic analysis of the benefits of joining this bloc is underwhelming. For example, there is an estimated gain to the UK of 0.08% of GDP – this is just a 50th of the OBR’s estimate of what Brexit has cost the UK economy to date.