New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India has cleared its final hurdle in Parliament, passing its third reading by 93 votes to 29. Trade Minister Todd McClay said Parliament has “overwhelmingly backed” the deal which the Government argued would deliver major gains for Kiwi exporters.
From day one, 57% of New Zealand’s current exports to India will become tariff-free, eventually rising to 82%, with forestry, sheep meat, wool, seafood, horticulture, wine and manuka honey among those benefiting.
But a lot more hides in the agreement than tariffs. It includes the equivalent of 1,667 three-year temporary employment visas for Indian workers each year, capped at 5,000 people at any one time, along with 1,000 working holiday places annually and provisions covering Indian students and post-study work rights.
The deal will also lift the screening threshold for qualifying investment from India in significant New Zealand business assets to $200 million and commits New Zealand to promoting US$20 billion in private-sector investment into India over 15 years. It also included commitments for electronic payments and greater links between the two countries’ payment infrastructure.
That’s significant given the Reserve Bank is currently considering the future of New Zealand’s payment system while continuing work on a possible central bank digital currency. The FTA does not commit New Zealand to a CBDC necessarily, but India, with its extensive digital public infrastructure and Unified Payments Interface, has been held up as a model.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s major dairy exports to India were largely outside the tariff cuts.
Sovereign NZ co-founder Joshua Riley said the “impossible” trade deal included uncappable visas, horticulture IP transfer and a $36 billion foreign direct investment promise to India. ”At just 2% of the China FTA’s increased trade, the India FTA’s net $390M new trade is a failure with absurd, detrimental concessions,” he said.
NZ First leader Winston Peters has called the deal “neither free nor fair,” arguing New Zealand has made significant concessions without securing enough access for dairy, its biggest export industry.
The FTA will come into force after both countries complete their remaining ratification procedures.
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Who were the 93 traitors?
Oh goodie, what a great deal for India, and all courtesy of the foreign owned NZ Company Church Parliament. No matter what box you tick on their prepared voting form, the NZ Company Church Parliament wins. Lucky us.
🚨 CHRISTOPHER LUXON HAS ECONOMICALLY SABOTAGED NEW ZEALAND EXPORTS.
WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE? 🇳🇿
I’ve worked in New Zealand’s horticulture and agriculture industries, and after reading what our Government actually agreed to in the India FTA, I am fucking furious.
This isn’t just about selling more NZ products to India.
We’ve agreed to help India become better at producing some of the very products WE export.
🥝 Kiwifruit: NZ expertise to help increase Indian production and fruit quality, including planting material, growing techniques, post-harvest knowledge and Centres of Excellence.
🍎 Apples: improving Indian rootstock, yields and post-harvest performance, alongside modern premium cultivars and growing systems.
🍯 Honey: technology transfer, research, testing, breeding expertise and NZ beekeeping practices to help develop India’s honey industry.
🐄 Livestock & dairy: dairying research, animal husbandry, animal-health expertise and even cooperation involving germplasm and breeding material.
🐟 Fisheries: fisheries expertise and deep-sea fishing technologies.
🌲 Forestry: research, harvesting, utilisation and technical capacity-building.
ARE YOU F#c KIDDING ME?