ISDS Case Map
New Zealand
The US has reinvigorated its trade policy with the announcement it will enter into comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations to become a full partner to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (P4).
The United States' dairy industry is more open to a free trade deal with New Zealand than in the past, US trade representative Susan Schwab says.
The proposed expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (NZ, Chile, Brunei, and Singapore, commonly known as the P4 Agreement) to include investment and financial services, and to add the US to its membership, was bad enough. But for this to suddenly morph into a fullblown Free Trade Agreement with the US is catastrophic for any remaining economic sovereignty that New Zealand has.
The US National Milk Producers Federation said today it would seek the full exclusion of New Zealand's dairy products under the newly-announced Transpacific free trade agreement. This stance is because of the New Zealand dairy industry's unique structure and excessive manipulation of dairy markets globally and in the US.
The New Zealand National Party's trade spokesman Tim Groser believes the dairy sector is likely to emerge as the big winner from the United States' decision to negotiate a free trade pact with New Zealand and three other countries because the deal could break down strict tariff barriers for dairy products entering the US. He also predicts Australia will want to get involved in the deal.
The New Zealand Alliance Party says a proposed new free trade deal with the USA is a race to the bottom that will be great for big business and terrible for workers. The party's trade spokesperson Victor Billot says any free trade deal is coming at a strange time as the global financial system teeters on the edge of collapse and Fonterra's venture into China has ended in disaster.
New Zealand's dairy giant Fonterra is caught up in the latest food scandal in China as the contaminated milk powder crisis reveals weeks of delay before the public was informed. NZ Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said “We signed up for a free trade agreement with no rules around environment or health, and so we are exposing ourselves and our companies to these types of scandals.”
Negotiations to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia will resume next week, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.
Indonesia has proposed the liberalization of professional and service sectors in Australia and New Zealand under the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries and ASEAN members.
The NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently announced the opening of negotiations with Singapore, Chile and Brunei to extend a two year old trade and investment agreement (the grandly named Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership - often known as the P4) into investment and financial services.
