Britain could join a Pacific free-trade group after Brexit, according to reports from the Department for International Trade.
The UK could join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade minister Greg Hands explained to the Financial Times, who insisted the trading group had no geographic requirements to enter it.
The UK would be the only member of the group not to border the Pacific Ocean. Current members include Australia, Mexico and Japan, and eight others.
The US withdrew from the group last year under orders from President Donald Trump, who often rallied against international trade deals in his election campaign.
However, Trade Secretary Liam Fox said it was too soon to tell if the UK would join.
“We have said that we want to be an open outward looking country, and therefore it would be foolish for us to rule out any particular outcomes for the future. So we’ll keep an open mind, and we’ll want to talk to our global trading partners,” he told Reuters.
A UK International Trade spokeswoman stated: "We have set up 14 trade 'working groups' across 21 countries to explore the best ways of progressing our trade and investment relationships across the world.
"It is early days, but as our Trade Policy Minister has pointed out, we are not excluding future talks on plurilateral relationships.”
TPP contains measures to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade, similar to the current model under the EU.
The agreement cuts over 18,000 tariffs. Tariffs on all UK manufactured goods and almost all UK farm products would be eliminated completely, with most eliminations occurring immediately.
Currently, members of the TPP account for about 8% of British exports.
News of potential trade groups could allow British farmers to "thrive" outside the EU, following decades of being "boxed in" by the EU's agricultural policies.
The deputy president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) Mark Bridgeman said Brexit is a "hugely significant" period for British agriculture. He said it will prosper outside the EU.
