The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) will undergo a new round of expansion.
According to media reports from The Asahi Shimbun and Bloomberg, on June 26 local time, the Japanese government announced that the 12 members of the CPTPP have approved the negotiations to join the agreement through an online ministerial meeting. They unanimously agreed to begin negotiations with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.
According to reports, the CPTPP implements a uniform access rule for all members. New members must obtain the approval of all existing member states before starting negotiations to join. The first round of discussions finalized by this review is a preparatory consultation between the three countries. A further meeting will be held in 2026, and the subsequent access review process will be advanced based on the progress of the consultations.
According to reports, in addition to advancing discussions on new member admissions, ministers from all member states agreed to complete the formal admission process for Costa Rica as soon as possible. They also asked the relevant working groups to expedite the review of Uruguay’s application for membership.
In terms of interaction with the EU, member states have confirmed that they will engage with the EU in a ‘constructive and forward-looking manner’, exploring the possibility of establishing dialogue mechanisms related to trade and investment.
RCEP and CPTPP
Currently, the CPTPP has 12 member countries, including 11 founding members: Japan, Canada, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico, and Peru.
The predecessor of the CPTPP was the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This agreement was initiated by New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, and Brunei within the framework of APEC. Negotiations for this multilateral free trade agreement began in 2002. The Obama administration later joined the negotiations for the agreement and gradually became a major promoter of it.
After the United States, more countries in the Asia-Pacific region gradually joined the negotiations. In October 2015, the United States completed negotiations with the aforementioned 11 countries and reached an agreement. In February 2016, the 12 members of the TPP officially signed the agreement in New Zealand. However, after Donald Trump took office in January 2017, the United States announced its withdrawal from the TPP.
After the United States withdrew from the agreement, in November 2017, Japan and the other 11 remaining members of the TPP continued to reach an agreement to advance the agreement. In March 2018, Japan and the other 11 countries signed a new agreement in Chile, resulting in the creation of the CPTPP, which officially came into effect at the end of December of that year.
According to the agreement rules, member countries will reduce or eliminate tariffs on industrial and agricultural products, and provide facilitation measures in the areas of trade and investment. When the agreement comes into effect, it will cover nearly 500 million people worldwide, with the combined GDP of all member countries accounting for about 13% of the global total.
In 2024, the UK officially joined the CPTPP, becoming the first country to expand its membership after the agreement came into effect, and also the first European member state within the framework.
It is worth mentioning that sources familiar with Japanese and Korean foreign affairs have revealed that the South Korean government has decided to formally apply to join the CPTPP. The government is coordinating to hold a cabinet meeting in the latter part of this month and will announce this decision to the public.
