When the United Kingdom formally left the European Union's single market and customs union at the end of 2020, the central promise of the Brexit campaign — that Britain would negotiate ambitious new free trade agreements with markets across the world — was still largely theoretical. More than five years on, that theoretical vision is beginning to translate into operational reality, albeit in ways that are rarely covered with the prominence the underlying economic stakes would seem to merit.
The UK's accession to CPTPP — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — which formally came into effect in December 2024, represents the most significant multilateral trade development for Britain outside its EU relationship. CPTPP connects the UK to eleven nations across the Pacific Rim: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. These markets collectively represent approximately 15% of global GDP, and the agreement removes tariffs on over 99% of UK goods traded with these nations over a phased implementation period.
The sectors set to benefit most from CPTPP are not necessarily those that dominate the domestic political conversation about trade. Whisky, pharmaceuticals, and financial services — already strong UK export categories — see meaningful tariff reductions. But the more transformative effects are likely to be felt in advanced manufacturing, professional services, and digital trade, where the agreement includes provisions that go substantially beyond anything previously available in the UK's bilateral agreements.
The Reset with the EU
CPTPP operates alongside an ongoing recalibration of the UK-EU trading relationship. The Windsor Framework, agreed in early 2023, resolved the most acute Northern Ireland trade frictions. But the broader question of UK-EU regulatory alignment — particularly in financial services, where the loss of EU passporting rights has had material effects on the City of London — remains unresolved and politically charged.
The European Commission's recent extension of equivalence decisions for UK clearing houses has provided some stability for the derivatives market. But the UK financial services sector continues to operate under more friction than before 2020, a fact that several major investment banks have cited in explaining their decision to expand their EU operations relative to their London presence.
Strategic Autonomy and the US Relationship
The prospect of a UK-US free trade agreement — one of the most frequently cited prizes of the Brexit project — remains distant. American domestic politics, particularly around agriculture, have made a comprehensive agreement politically undeliverable in the near term. What has emerged instead is a series of narrower sectoral agreements, most notably the Atlantic Declaration framework signed in 2023, which covers semiconductors, AI governance, and critical minerals supply chains.
These narrower arrangements reflect a broader shift in how the UK government approaches trade policy: less focus on headline comprehensive FTAs, more focus on specific sectors where British competitive advantage is most clearly defensible and where geopolitical alignment with partner countries provides additional strategic value.
What It Means for British Businesses
For most British businesses, the practical day-to-day effects of these shifts remain limited but growing. The CPTPP accession opens preferential market access that did not previously exist; businesses in the relevant sectors that take the time to understand and use these provisions will find genuine commercial advantage. The UK's Department for Business and Trade runs a free export advice service for SMEs at great.gov.uk that covers both CPTPP rules of origin and wider market entry guidance for all major UK export markets.
The geopolitical context for all of this is one of accelerating multipolarity — a world in which the EU, the US, China, and a growing constellation of middle powers are each pursuing trade relationships that serve their strategic as much as their purely commercial interests. The UK, freed from the EU's common commercial policy but lacking the EU's weight, is navigating this environment as a medium-sized, globally oriented economy that is comfortable with pragmatic flexibility. Whether that proves a strength or a vulnerability will depend substantially on the quality of the policy decisions made in the coming years.