[Blog] What has happened to UK-Japan trade one year after signing the CEPA FTA?

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) came into force in January 2021, as part of the UK’s post-Brexit trading arrangements. CEPA was designed to largely replicate the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), to which the UK had been a party. On the face of it, there was little additional economic value to the UK, since CEPA provisions follow EPA provisions so closely, except for a chapter on digital trade. In this blog, we analyse trade between the UK and Japan in the CEPA’s first twelve months. We recognise that a year is insufficient for a full assessment (particularly given the effect of other factors such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the UK’s relationship with the EU). Nevertheless, we examine some initial insights that emerge from the data.