The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a major international trade agreement composed of 12 countries, including the UK as well as Mexico, Chile, and Peru.
On 6 May 2026, we announced that we have substantially concluded negotiations with Costa Rica, paving the way for them to join CPTPP potentially as early as next year.
Costa Rica is a good fit for CPTPP. It is strategically located in Central America with a strong democratic history, a highly literate population[1] and a keen environmental record[2]. As an OECD member—one of just four in Latin America, alongside Chile, Colombia, and Mexico—Costa Rica represents a progressive and forward-thinking counterpart in the region.
From a bilateral perspective, Costa Rica is the UK’s 88th largest trading partner with a total trade in goods and services at £1.2 billion.[3] The UK and Costa Rica already have a trade deal in place through the UK-Central America Association Agreement (UK-CAAA).
This raises the question: What additional benefits does CPTPP membership provide?
Joining CPTPP offers Costa Rica, and partners including the UK, new opportunities beyond existing agreements. From a goods perspective, once entered into force, Costa Rica’s accession will benefit UK businesses from day one. Exporters will be able to take advantage of duty-free access (within a quota) for goods like cheese (including cheddar), confectionery and animal feed. Exports of pork and biscuits will become duty-free within five years, beef within eight and cheese within twelve. Through accession to CPTPP, Costa Rica has agreed to liberalise its professional services regime across 19 regulated professions including in legal, accounting, and engineering services. This liberalisation goes far beyond any of Costa Rica’s previous trade agreements and provides a more open and accessible market for UK professionals.
CPTPP membership will give Costa Rica access to a larger network of markets with high standards in areas such as digital trade, intellectual property, and labour and environmental protections.
For the UK, Costa Rica’s accession will further deepen its ties with Latin America, enhance market access opportunities for UK businesses, and support the UK’s global trade ambitions. As entry into force approaches, DBT will update the guidance on business.gov.uk to ensure that UK companies have the details they need to take advantage of this new agreement.
At a regional level, Costa Rica’s entry strengthens the Latin American voice within CPTPP, fostering greater integration and collaboration among countries in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. It also demonstrates the ongoing appeal and relevance of CPTPP, as more economies seek to join and benefit from the agreement’s modern trade rules.
The conclusion of Costa Rica’s CPTPP negotiations signals not only the country’s readiness to take on new trade commitments but also the adaptability and attractiveness of CPTPP as a living agreement.
In terms of CPTPP more widely, Mexico’s ratification of the UK’s accession to CPTPP will be complete on 22 June 2026, meaning UK companies will be able to trade in Mexico on CPTPP terms from that day.
For industries with complex supply chains, one significant advantage will be the option of cumulation of content from other CPTPP countries. This could greatly benefit the automotive sector – the UK’s largest export to Mexico. CPTPP also includes provisions on data flows, protection of source code and cryptography, and a ban on unjustified data localisation. These provide certainty, security and lower costs for UK companies, notably in the tech industry - a sector of significance in Mexico.
The other big Latin American news from CPTPP is that Uruguay is the next accession candidate, and has already begun the accession process. CPTPP Parties have also indicated an interest in launching accession processes with the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines and Indonesia during the course of this year. We will keep Canning House members updated once we know more about these processes.
As the UK Deputy Senior Official for CPTPP, I work across a range of CPTPP issues, and Costa Rica’s conclusion of negotiations, and Urugay’s next steps towards accession are only two of several developments in CPTPP. We are also continuing to discuss upgrading the text to ensure it remains modern and forward-looking, and in active dialogues with the EU and ASEAN. Take a look at gov.uk for the latest news on CPTPP The UK and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) - GOV.UK
[1] Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) - Costa Rica | Data September 2025
[2] Environment at a Glance: Costa Rica, June 2025
[3] Trade and Investment Factsheets: Costa Rica, March 2026
Rob Cook is the UK’s Deputy Senior Official for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in the Department for Business and Trade.
Prior to this role, from 2017-2021 he served at the United Kingdom’s Mission in Geneva, including serving as Deputy Permanent Representative (Economic) to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Agencies in Geneva.
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