Trade Minister Damien O’Connor has set his sights on an “ambitious” Free Trade Agreement, hoping for a better deal than what’s been announced for Australia.
Talking with Q+A with Jack Tame from London, he said while our trans-Tasman allies are a "reference point" there’s still room to iron out a deal more suited to New Zealand’s market.
"We’re not locking ourselves into the Australian agreement, we want to always do better for Kiwis."
While they are hoping for an agreement on similar terms to that reached between the UK and Australia, there are still areas for improvement.
"We aspire to that and better in some cases than Australia has got. That’s what we aim for."
When it comes to tariff elimination with the United Kingdom, O’Connor told Q+A they’re asking for a "fair deal" that’s able to benefit both sides.
"As other countries come into this market, some of them have an advantage over us. We want to rebalance that in terms of tariffs."
He’s looking closely at current agreements made by the UK with other countries’ situations that are similar to New Zealand.
"For South American countries, many of them have low or zero tariffs on the goods we’re competing with, so we’ll be looking to this market."
O’Connor told Q+A he’s been out talking to farmers across the UK to reassure them these potential changes won’t negatively impact local business.
Reducing tariffs won’t necessarily equate to cheaper prices of New Zealand goods in the UK, he said, but rather result in a higher return.
"As we move to eliminate tariffs, that just gives us a fair go. It doesn’t mean they become uncompetitive in any way."
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