UK looks to Pacific trade group after Brexit

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) Oscar container ship sits dockside at the Port of Felixstowe Ltd., a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., in Felixstowe, U.K.

Britain is considering whether to try and join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the country considers its trade future outside of the European Union, according to the Financial Times.

The prospect of Britain joining the distant trade group could help revitalize TPP as well as bolster exports in the U.K. after Brexit, the report said.

However, news of London reportedly entering negotiations with the group has been met with skepticism from trade experts.

“Nothing is excluded in all of this,” U.K. Trade Minister Greg Hands told the Financial Times in an interview published Tuesday. “With these kinds of plurilateral relationships, there doesn’t have to be any geographical restriction.”

The TPP’s future appeared in tatters last year when President Donald Trump honored a campaign pledge and pulled out of the trade pact. However, the remaining 11 members — including Australia, Mexico and Japan — agreed in November to pursue a successor deal.

Should the U.K.’s reported proposals to join TPP come to fruition, Britain would become the first member of the trade group that does not share a border with either the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea.

Read the Financial Times’ full article here.