Made in Japan: Britain’s last trade deal

Today Britain’s trade minister, Liz Truss, will sign a deal with Japan. Brexiteers will tout it as evidence that a new “global Britain” can navigate international waters. Although mostly a copy of the European Union’s existing pact, the deal should contain some new goodies, such as more access for Britain’s financial-services companies to Japan and gains for biscuit and whisky exporters. The bigger prize may be further ahead. As part of the talks, Japan has agreed to support Britain’s membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal with 11 countries around the Pacific Rim. But whereas the EU’s economy was triple the size of Japan’s when it negotiated the pact that Britain has now largely inherited, in 2019 Britain’s economy was only a quarter as big as the aggregate GDP of the CPTPP’s members. Because economic heft translates into bargaining power, Britain’s path to the CPTPP could be trickier.

tout: 标榜，吹嘘
navigate：找到正确的方法（对付困难复杂的情况）
international waters：国际海域，国际水域，公海
pact：条约，公约，协议
goodies：诱人的东西
the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific : 全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定
the Pacific Rim: 环太平洋，亚太地区
whereas：然而
aggregate：总计
heft into：
trickier：难对付的，狡猾的，诡计多端的