Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has put in place a timeframe for negotiations on the UK joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership; and if he will make a statement.

We continue to consider accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, including analysis of the texts and assessment of the UK’s interests in relation to them.

Any timelines will depend entirely on progress made if and when we enter negotiations.

Potential CPTPP accession was part of the Government’s public consultation on new trade agreements markets along with the US, Australia, and New Zealand. We are currently reviewing the 150,000 responses we received on CPTPP and a response will be provided in due course.