Foot in the door

"We were ambitious particularly in the area of dairy and would have seen greater liberalisation and better access for New Zealand dairy farmers into these markets," he said at the Auckland TPP roadshow.

"We didn't achieve all that.... But we need to remember dairy is still one of the most protected and regulated industries in the world."

After all these years they are starting to get better access to the US, the world's largest economy, for dairy and other produce.

"If you are asking whether we think that is it and we don't have to worry about dairy and other industries around the world, the answer is no. NZ will always argue for greater liberalisation in all these areas."

But if they don't go into the TPP agreement, restrictions would be higher on all exporters. Ninety five percent of our exports will be covered by free trade without restriction when TPP enters into force.

McClay says they will use the whole of this year for the parliamentary stage of the process. Previous trade agreements have moved through Parliament much faster.

This was NZ's largest and most beneficial agreement and had two years to enter into force, he said. They have time to work through the legislative stages, which are likely to be quite technical particularly on the copyright issue.