Better trade prospects as curbs diminish

Here are excerpts from his speech.

There is much to gain from advances in free trade, including jobs and higher incomes for New Zealanders, and it’s important that we take advantage of these global trends while we can.

The latest data suggests that improving global conditions are directly benefiting NZ traders.

NZ goods exports to China, our leading goods market, gained momentum in the last quarter, increasing 14% to the year ended June 2017.

Goods exports to Australia, US, Japan and Korea were all up in the last quarter and prices are generally increasing in the Global Dairy Trade auction with seven of the last ten resulting in the index rising.

Many positives can be highlighted but of course there are still risks to global stability. These include potential for countries to increase trade protection, and financial sector variabilities including mounting financial stability risks in China, political tensions and some security issues.   

In recent weeks I’ve attended meetings in Indonesia and the Philippines that have focused on counter-terrorism, cross-border conflict, cyber security and other issues important to the Asia Pacific region, notably the South China Sea and Korean peninsula.

It’s clear that all countries in that region except North Korea have no interest in any kind of conflict that would halt or redirect their economic growth. China, Russia, US and Japan and all the Asean countries are calling for dialogue and dampening of tensions. For each of them and for us, the trade agenda remains important.

While a lot of the international rhetoric may be about protectionism and the view that some major players are turning inwards, we now have a more interconnected world marketplace than ever before and the introduction of new measures appears to be slowing.

The latest World Trade Organisation monitoring report shows members introduced fewer trade restricting measures in 2016 than in 2015, when new measures averaged about 20 a month.

Since I assumed the foreign affairs portfolio about three months ago, we’ve launched free trade negotiations with the Pacific Alliance, of which Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru are members. These four nations are home to 221 million consumers and have a combined GDP of US$3.8 trillion.

The PACER Plus agreement has been signed to provide social and economic benefits to many Pacific nations.

The $55 million development package will also help cut red tape for NZ businesses and will establish a common set of trading rules.

Thailand and NZ have agreed to market access improvements for our exporters, we’ve started high-level talks with Washington under the Trump administration and we’ve solidified our position high up the queue for a post-Brexit FTA with the UK.

Earlier this year we signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership 11, and officials will be assessing the options to bring TPP11 into force.

TPP11 will ensure our exporters remain competitive in important markets and will support jobs in all regions of NZ.

In three years NZ will be able to show its innovative products and services on the world stage at Dubai 2020, a world expo likely to attract 25 million visitors from Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

In short, the outlook for NZ exporters is bright and, as we all know, a strong export economy produces positive knock-on effects for every NZer.