Costa Rica to join UK as member of £13 trillion global trade bloc

11 May 2026

New access for UK exporters to markets including beef, cheese and animal feed
Greater freedom for UK services professionals to operate within market
Further new joiners expected as bloc strengthens global network

Costa Rica has been granted accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Central American nation will now formally join the UK as a member of the trading bloc, which has a combined GDP of £13 trillion, according to 2025 data.

Once ratified, Costa Rica’s accession will benefit UK businesses from day one. Exporters will 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 12.

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We have opened these sectors while protecting our farmers, by not increasing access to sensitive agricultural sectors including beef, pork and chicken. We have also not offered any greater market access to Costa Rica than to other CPTPP members.

UK companies will also have legally guaranteed access to bid for Costa Rican public procurement, allowing them to bid for government contracts under CPTPP rules.

Costa Rica’s accession to CPTPP strengthens the existing services and investment relationship between the UK and Costa Rica, giving UK businesses greater certainty, clear rules, and improved access to a market where services and investment already underpin the majority of bilateral trade.

The services and investment liberalisation that Costa Rica has agreed to as part of their accession to CPTPP shows the value of the bloc in promoting high-value, open, and predictable services and investment trade flows between CPTPP members.

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.

The UK will also benefit from Costa Rica’s most ambitious Temporary Entry offer to date, including a new CPTPP-specific temporary entry route offering previously unavailable categories of Business Persons such as Contractual Service Suppliers, Independent Professionals and Specialised Technicians, with priority sectors secured for UK providers.

Costa Rica’s accession will represent the first time they have taken international obligations on State-Owned Enterprises helping to protect British businesses from market distortions.

For Financial Services, Costa Rica’s accession to CPTPP provides UK firms with legal certainty on their ability to provide portfolio management and e-payment card services to Costa Rican clients on a cross-border basis.

CPTPP is open for growth: we are negotiating with Uruguay and planning to start discussions with Indonesia, the Philippines and the UAE this year, if possible. The fact that the CPTPP is growing and has several other countries who want to join shows that there is a strong appetite around the world for free and fair trade based on a shared set of rules.