Editorial: We are Trumped
OPINION: Nothing it seems can be done in the short term to get Donald Trump to change his mind about removing the unfair 15% tariffs that he’s imposed on New Zealand exports to the US.
The Trans-Pacific trade deal, CPTPP, has already cut tariffs on New Zealand beef to Japan from 38.5% to 26.6%.
According to Esther Guy-Meakin, Beef + Lamb NZ’s manager international trade, over the next 15 years those tariffs will fall to 9% “which is obviously quite a big win for us”, she told Rural News.
Estimates show the meat industry expects to save $60 million in tariffs into Japan once CPTPP is fully implemented.
On December 31, 2018 the CPTPP came into force and everyone in the 11-country trade deal had to make their first tariff cut and then in January everyone made their second, she says. Because of Japan’s financial year they were allowed to make their second cut on April 1. That brought the beef tariff down to the 26.6%.
“With the Japanese market the agreement also puts us on a level playing field with Australia, which has had a deal in place for a few years. That has meant they have an advantage,” says Guy-Meakin. “The CPTPP puts us on the same footing as Australia so we will have the same preferential access as them.”
Beef exports to Japan are about 4% of NZ global beef exports by volume, but of high value.
Guy-Meakin says while we have free trade agreements with many other CPTPP countries, we didn’t with Mexico, Peru, Canada and Japan.
“That means we [now] get a good deal with those countries too,” she says.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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