- Negotiations
New Zealand is a party to a number of completed free trade and investment agreements. These are: the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement (1983); the New Zealand-Singapore Closer Economic Partnership (2001); the New Zealand-Thailand Closer Economic Partnership (2005); the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership or P4 (2005); the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement (2008), the Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand free trade agreement (2009), the New Zealand-Malaysia FTA (2009),an FTA with the GCC, (2009) and the New Zealand-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership (2010).
A New Zealand-India deal has been mooted. New Zealand’s government has indicated that it wants FTAs with Korea and Taiwan
While talk of a US-New Zealand FTA was hotly resisted and never got off the ground, partly because of New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy, the expansion of what was initially called the P4 agreement to include the US (the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement) threatens to bring important changes to New Zealand policies.
New Zealand has also signed a number of IPPAs (bilateral investment treaties) with Chile, Argentina, Hong Kong, China and others.
last update: May 2012
Photo: NZ Free Trade Watch / Facebook
30-Jul-2008
Earth Times
New Zealand business organisations urged their government on Wednesday to negotiate more bilateral and regional free trade pacts following the collapse of the World Trade Organisation talks in Geneva.
25-Jul-2008
Scoop
Many New Zealanders believe that a New Zealand-US free trade agreement would put all of Aotearoa up for sale to US corporations by “removing barriers” to US corporate control and by allowing US corporations to sue the New Zealand government for threatening their profits.
25-Jul-2008
TVNZ
A free trade agreement between New Zealand and the US is expected to be on the agenda when the Prime Minister meets with the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
12-Jun-2008
NewsroomAmerica
New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff is sounding upbeat about the chances of securing a free trade agreement with the United States whoever becomes the next president after completing a round of meetings in Washington.
4-Jun-2008
NZPA
India is asking for a free trade agreement with New Zealand so it can secure a reliable supply of quality food, NZ Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton says.
19-May-2008
NZ Herald
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark believes the impact of the international food crisis is the key reason why the Japanese Government has agreed to a ground-breaking study on the benefits of a bilateral free trade agreement.
14-May-2008
Prime Minister Helen Clark will push for closer economic ties when she holds talks today with her Japanese counterpart Yasuo Fukuda today.
14-May-2008
Stuff
New Zealand and Japan have taken a first step towards free trade negotiations, agreeing today to a study on the benefits of a closer economic partnership.
13-May-2008
It’s time to get serious about doing a trade deal with Japan, says free trade and business lobbyists, who say we’ve been neglecting our relationship with the world’s second biggest economy.
21-Apr-2008
IHT
Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday she will hold exploratory free trade talks in Japan and South Korea next month — only weeks after securing a comprehensive free trade agreement with China.
Links
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Government of NZ’ page on FTAs
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Māori collective that aims to advance and protect Māori interests in the trade space.
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The OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE campaign was formed around building the protests at the September 2007 US-NZ Partnership Forum, the global justice campaign aims to build public support and organisation against the signing of any form of free trade agreement between the United States and New Zealand.