Origin story
The EU and the Indo-Pacific club, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, resolved last November to combine their economic forces to push back on the fragmentation of free trade in the wake of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
“We see a lot of value in increasing trade among the EU and CPTPP parties, which would also contribute to enhancing supply chain resilience,” a Japanese trade official said. An agreement on rules of origin “would be an interesting topic to explore,” they added, but a “concrete outcome may not be expected in the short term.”
“If the EU is up for the conversation, then of course it would make things very interesting indeed,” said a trade diplomat from another CPTPP nation.
Ottawa is “championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people,” Mark Carney said in Davos. | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Within the EU, some officials are “super keen” to pursue the cumulation deal, said a senior business representative briefed on their thinking.
While the deal “is indeed part of the broad scope of the EU-CPTPP cooperation,” an EU official confirmed, it is “not part of the priority for actions for now.” More immediate discussions prioritize “concrete outcomes,” they said, on bringing supply chains in the blocs closer together and bolstering trade diversification among their members.
Business buy-in
Business groups throughout Europe, however, are growing louder in their support of the rules-of-origin deal and pushing Brussels and London to forge ahead. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and British Chambers of Commerce squarely support the pact.