A select committee hearing on New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India has drawn renewed attention after social media commentator 2ETEKA highlighted an exchange involving MPs and officials over provisions relating to investment obligations.
In a post on X, 2ETEKA said previously overlooked footage showed committee chair Tim van de Molen questioning whether the agreement could require New Zealand to promote up to US$20 billion (about NZ$33 billion) of investment into India. According to the post, van de Molen repeatedly pressed officials on Article 9.10(3), expressing concern that India could suspend trade concessions if it considered New Zealand had failed to make sufficient progress towards that investment target.
The post says Deputy Secretary for Trade and Economic Affairs Vangelis Vitalis argued that Article 9.2 frames the investment figure as an “aim” rather than a binding obligation. However, 2ETEKA contends van de Molen remained concerned that the wording of Article 9.10(3) appeared to provide India with a mechanism to reimpose tariffs until New Zealand fulfilled the investment objective.
2ETEKA also referred to comments from Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, who noted Treasury modelling estimated the agreement would increase New Zealand’s GDP by around 0.1 per cent, or approximately $500 million, by 2046. Vitalis responded that Treasury has historically underestimated the economic benefits of free trade agreements and suggested the gains from the India agreement could ultimately prove larger, citing New Zealand’s experience following its FTA with China.
However, although exports to China exceeded initial forecasts, the increase would not be sufficient to justify expectations of a comparable return on a potential NZ$33 billion investment commitment. New Zealand would therefore need export growth far beyond Treasury’s projections to offset the investment target.
2ETEKA was also critical of the committee discussion, alleging Labour MP Vanushi Walters initially suggested van de Molen had misinterpreted the clause before later attributing the issue to “poor drafting.” Discussion was then diverted onto other topics before the investment clause was fully resolved.
🚩This is damning for Luxon, National, Act & Labour. The FTA is as bad as they are denying it is.
Footage most people haven’t seen from the India FTA select committee,reveals that FTA has duplicitous clauses that determines the NZ $ 33 Billion of direct investment into India IS… pic.twitter.com/294UKtL1Aj
— Holyhekatuiteka (@2ETEKA) July 14, 2026
