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.
New Zealand joining 15 other World Trade Organisation members to set up interim arrangements to solve trade disputes is a welcome step, says the NZ International Business Forum.
“Ensuring effective arbitration of trade disputes is a vital component of the international trade system,” says NZIBF chair, Malcolm Bailey.
New Zealand and 15 other members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the European Union and China are establishing an arrangement that will allow them to bring appeals and solve trade disputes among themselves.
This is in view of the current paralysis of the WTO’s Appellate Body.
“New Zealand, as a small trading nation, has an enormous stake in the robustness of the WTO dispute settlement system. We have taken on the largest traders in the world and won when our trading interests have been unjustly threatened.”
Bailey says the WTO system has been seriously weakened by the unfortunate lapse of the Appellate Body at the end of last year.
“It is good to see a diverse number of WTO members taking steps to redress the situation, but this is at best a temporary solution – what we need is the Appellate Body fully functioning again.”
Bailey says that trade disputes are likely to increase as a consequence of increasing protectionism, already prevalent before the current global health crisis. Export bans and increased tariffs on the goods required to address the pandemic are a rising concern.
“Re-starting the engines of global trade and investment will be critical in the post-crisis world. Timely and effective arbitration of disputes between economies will be needed more than ever.
We urge other WTO members to come together to build a stronger dispute settlement system” says Bailey.
Whangarei field service technician, Bryce Dickson has cemented his place in John Deere’s history, becoming the first ever person to win an award for the third time at the annual Australian and New Zealand Technician of the Year Awards, announced at a gala dinner in Brisbane last night.
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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