The Scottish Government has warned of “significant risks” for Scots farmers after the UK took the first step towards joining a major Indo-Pacific trading bloc.
The UK’s Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was in New Zealand overnight to sign off accession protocol of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
It paves the way for Britain to join trade freely with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
It represents the UK biggest trade deal since Brexit.
Ms Badenoch described the agreement as "significant."
When told on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge programme that it was estimated the new deal will only increase UK GDP by 0.08%, the Tory minister replied: “The assessment we made was a scoping assessment, it’s just a very broad brush sort of static modelling, it doesn’t look at so many things.
"It’s not specifically about trade deals – we use it for all sorts of things. It doesn’t look at the future growth that’s coming in, and it also doesn’t look at how we utilise the agreement.
“That’s why it’s so important that I explain to people how significant it is. If we don’t use it then it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy – this is a forecast that is only as good as the way that we utilise it.
“One of the things that we need to remember is that there are 11 countries in there who are making up about 500 million people.
“That’s so, so much potential, that’s where the middle-class is coming from.
“You look at the countries that are queuing up – the US was going to join until they had a change of administration. They’re not doing free trade agreements any more, but we are, this is global Britain, the world is our oyster, we’re not isolated, we’re not insular.”
The Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs Secretary, Mairi Gougeon, expressed some concerns.
She said: “This trade partnership offers positive elements which will provide new opportunities for Scottish exporters, such as the tariff reductions for Scotch whisky in Malaysia.
“However, any gain from these opportunities cannot be secured at the expense of other sectors of the Scottish agri-food economy.
"The UK Government must not use our world class products as bargaining chips and pit Scottish needs and interests against each other in any agreement on market access.
“There are significant risks in particular for our sensitive agricultural products - which have already been damaged by bilateral deals with two of the larger economies in the CPTPP, New Zealand and Australia.
“That’s why it is absolutely vital that preferential access to the UK market must be contingent on producers meeting the same high standards our domestic producers are required to meet.
"This includes the use of pesticides, antibiotics and standards of animal health and welfare.
“Increasing trade is positive when done in line with the principles we set out in our Vision for Trade strategy. It is only right that devolved interests are fully considered to ensure that trade policy works for the whole of the UK."
Earlier, Ms Badenoch admitted that the chances of the UK securing a free trade agreement with the United States are “very low.”
The Business Secretary said progress had stalled after Donald Trump left the White House.
Asked on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme to rate the UK’s chances of an FTA with the US, the Tory frontbencher replied: “The US is not carrying out any free trade agreements with any countries, so I would say very low.
“It all depends on the administration that’s there – different presidents have different priorities. Lots of countries have been looking to have a free trade agreement with the US, including us, but for now they’ve said that’s not something they want to do and we need to respect that.
“Instead we’re having other types of trading interactions and trading deals with them.”
She later told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “We can’t force other countries to do things that are different from what they want to do; they are a sovereign country just as we are.”
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