British International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said on Saturday that the United Kingdom plans to complete talks related to joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) by the end of next year. In an interview with the Financial Times, Truss expressed hope the United States will rejoin the trade pact it withdrew from during the Trump administration.
"Two-thirds of the world’s middle classes are going to live in Asia by 2030 and the types of products that they’re demanding are the types of things Britain produces - whether those high value manufactured goods, quality food and drink, digital and data products, financial services. The EU is going to be a smaller proportion of the world economy in 20 or 30 years’ time and countries like Vietnam, or Malaysia, which are part of CPTPP are going to be a bigger share," Truss stated as the UK aims to renegotiate trade deals after leaving the European Union.
