increase font size
US President Donald Trump
New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.
This will likely have the effect of completely skewing the international dairy market to our detriment.
It's clear that the Trump administration doesn't care about NZ or anyone else, be they friend or foe. They are simply focused on a blanket policy plank that they as righting the wrongs of the rules-based trade system embodied in the WTO. Such self-interest has long been a feature of American politics and from time to time it has used its economic power to its advantage.
As a tiny country we have little real power in this whole debate and can only sit in the cheapest seats of the auditorium and see what plays out. We can hope that rational arguments have a place in the uncertain and strange geopolitical environment that we live in. But while we know that common sense no longer applies, maybe also logic and loyalty are now things of the past.
If this was only US vs. NZ, maybe we could live with the 15% tariffs, but it's consequential and unpredictable flow-on effects that are worry.
Under the auspices of the WTO, NZ at least could voice its concerns and, through the rules of that organisation, make progress on dairy access like it has just done with Canada. But with Trump there is no consensus or consultation on the rule making, no real appeal process, and that uncertainty is the only certainty.
In previous trade hiccups that NZ has encountered, diversification has always been an option, but the global effect of the US tariff policy has been to economically de-stabilise many of these markets.
The focus of NZ now surely must be to produce high quality competitively priced products and hope for the best.
OPINION: After seven years of Adrian Orr’s antics as Reserve Bank NZ governor, the priority of his successor, Anna Breman, surely is rebuilding the tarnished reputation of the RBNZ, not stepping on the Foreign Minister’s toes by commenting on US domestic politics.
Meat processors are hopeful that the additional 15% tariff on lamb exports to the US will also come off.
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imports into the US is doing good things for global trade, according to Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay.
A Hawke's Bay apple grower says it's no longer profitable for him to export apples to the US because of the 15% tariff imposed on them by Donald Trump.
Red meat farmers and processors are welcoming a US Government announcement - removing its reciprocal tariffs on a range of food products, including New Zealand beef.
The sale of Fonterra’s global consumer and related businesses is expected to be completed within two months.
Fonterra is boosting its butter production capacity to meet growing demand.
For the most part, dairy farmers in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti and the Manawatu appear to have not been too badly affected by recent storms across the upper North Island.
South Island dairy production is up on last year despite an unusually wet, dull and stormy summer, says DairyNZ lower South Island regional manager Jared Stockman.
Following a side-by-side rolling into a gully, Safer Farms has issued a new Safety Alert.
Coming in at a year-end total at 3088 units, a rise of around 10% over the 2806 total for 2024, the signs are that the New Zealand farm machinery industry is turning the corner after a difficult couple of years.
OPINION: Media reports say global recalls tied to cereulide toxin contamination in milk-based nutrition brands could inflict combined financial losses…
OPINION: It's a case of a dairy company coming to the rescue of a failed plant-based dairy player.
