PM under trade deal pressure
Dominion Post, Wellington
PM under trade deal pressure
By Tracy Watkins
20 March 2007
National is stepping up pressure on Prime Minister Helen Clark to elevate a trade deal to the top of her talks with United States President George Bush as Washington refuses to offer any hope of a breakthrough soon.
National leader John Key said yesterday securing a free trade deal should be New Zealand’s top priority.
The US has continued to signal that a free trade agreement with New Zealand is a low priority. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Glyn Davies told a House subcommittee last week that though the US "may consider an FTA with New Zealand in the future", it was working through other means to "further deepen our economic relationship".
Miss Clark has also played down expectations that she will return with agreement on a trade deal. "I don’t think we would want to make the success or failure of this visit contingent on bilateral free trade agreement negotiations and nor is it my intention to make it contingent on that," she said.
But she acknowledged the US had done deals with other countries "less close than New Zealand".
Mr Key said Labour’s "American bagman" accusation and others against National at the last election had not helped. US insiders told The Dominion Post last year that an apparent resurgence in anti-Americanism at the election was noted "at the highest levels".
Michael Green, former National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs, said it had "soured and undermined a growing sense between the two governments ... that the US and New Zealand were really on the same side".
