[jfman]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Your big mistake, Andrew, is assuming that the EU is the only solution to be part of a bigger market, and you completely fail to understand that the EU is making unreasonable demands of us to get a no-tariff trade deal. To accept these demands would undermine our sovereignty and undermine the benefits of Brexit.

There are other trading blocs we could join. The most obvious to me is the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Prtnership (CPTPP), which already comprises 11 countries including Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico and Peru. If Britain joined, this would comprise 16% of global commerce. That's bigger than the EU, and it is fast growing as a productive group of nations, whereas the EU is expected to decline.

The CPTPP is expected to generate about 25% of trade by 2050, whereas the poorly performing EU will manage only 10%. If we want a tariff-free deal, we could do a lot worse than joining the CPTPP. Why are posters on this forum not talking about opportunities such as these instead of bemoaning our departure of the failing EU? GB is not a one-trick pony and Liz Truss is already forging ahead with negotiations to join the much more promising CPTPP while continuing to seek trade deals with the US and others.

Is this the new one after China and the US deals look in peril?