A bottle of the (former) PM’s Pinot All Noir came into our correspondent’s possession via a shady route of backdoor deals and dirty politics… but no ponytails were harmed. This weekend, I sat in my rented Grey Lynn villa as the wind blew literal puddles of rain through the huge gap under the front door, … Read more
The way we sign up to trade deals must change, and parliament needs to lead the process to prevent flawed agreements like the TPP getting through, write lawyer Oliver Hailes and academic Max Harris. There has been sustained and vocal public opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a treaty that would bind a number of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. The CPTPP trade deal is being signed this morning, electoral spending figures show the Labour Party isn’t broke anymore, and a celebrity atheist pulls out of touring NZ amid sexual misconduct allegations. Some time in the New Zealand morning, the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership will be signed in Chile, reports Radio NZ. The … Read more
The PM famously called climate change her generation’s ‘nuclear free moment’. Branko Marcetic asks environmental critics of the original agreement whether the deal updated as CPTPP allays their concerns Climate change is here. It’s only March, and we’ve already experienced a record-breaking heatwave, a “revved up” tropical cyclone, and now scientists are freaking out over … Read more
If it signs the latest version of this controversial deal, Jacinda Ardern’s government can hardly expect people to take the promise of a progressive new model for New Zealand’s international trading relations seriously, argues leading TPPA critic Jane Kelsey. Read Stephen Jacobi’s positive take on the deal here The on-again, off-again Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) … Read more
The revamped deal is now on track for sign-off in early March, and it deserves support by progressives and conservatives alike, argues Stephen Jacobi of the NZ International Business Forum. Read Jane Kelsey’s critique of the proposed deal here Good things come in small bundles. And occasionally in large ones, even with a mouthful of a … Read more
Branko Marcetic asks around to see if the new government can keep both its trade promises and its climate change commitments. Jacinda Ardern melted the anthropogenically warming hearts of many an environmentalist when she declared during the 2017 election campaign that climate change was her “generation’s nuclear free moment,” and that she was determined to “tackle … Read more
Attempts to renegotiate the TPP provide the immediate task, but defence also looms as a big challenge for a government with three key internationally focused positions filled by NZ First MPs, writes the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, David Capie One of the biggest surprises to emerge from talks to form a new … Read more
Last week on The Spinoff economic lawyer Chris Gillies called for Labour to rethink its opposition to investor-state dispute settlements, a key part of trade deals like the TPP. Quite the contrary, argues solicitor and TPP scholar Oliver Hailes: New Zealand is far better off without them. Buckle up, because the election result has reignited … Read more
New Zealand’s trade policy could be set for a shakeup under the new Labour government. A likely target is investor-state dispute resolution provisions in New Zealand’s free trade agreements, which may go from status quo to status no. Chris Gillies explains why that’s not a good idea. Investor-state dispute resolution (ISDS) is a dispute … Read more
The NZ election campaign coincides with a crunch time for the future of the Trans Pacific Partnership. In the absence of the US, attempts to renegotiate an 11-member TPP risk scuppering a deal that could bring enormous benefits to New Zealand, argues Stephen Jacobi, executive director of the NZ International Business Forum. Good ideas never … Read more
It seemed Donald Trump had killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but it has sprung back to life with Bill English’s visit to Japan. His confidence that the NZ parliament has already approved a TPP11 is misplaced, however, writes Andrew Geddis. As everybody should very well understand, the primary rule for surviving a horror movie is: “When it appears … Read more
Emails between the New Zealand branch of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade offer a fascinating window into the way trade lobbying happens in NZ, writes Branko Marcetic. If you have a passing familiarity with US politics, you’ve probably heard of the US Chamber of Commerce. Alyssa Katz, … Read more
When President Donald J Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a number of New Zealand’s trade cards flew into the air – including a possible bilateral deal with “America first”. Trade advocate Stephen Jacobi reviews the options. The apparent demise of the TPP is is not … Read more
Obama wants to get the trade deal through Congress during the lame duck session, but both Trump and Clinton are vocally opposed. It is too early, however, to declare the battle lost, argues TPP advocate Stephen Jacobi Trade has been described as “war by other means”. That inspired the US Defence Secretary, in peak hyperbole, … Read more
Opinion: Much of the commentary and analysis on the TPP has focussed on the role of corporate interests. But little attention has been paid to understanding what is driving such deals in broader foreign policy terms, writes Nicholas Ross Smith. Recent months have seen much impassioned debate around the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the deal signed between … Read more
The TPP roadshow kicked off in Auckland yesterday with luxury muffins and pointed questions at an inner city Auckland hotel. Former Herald editor-in-chief Tim Murphy takes in the explanatory slides and the giggling infiltrators. The real TPP roadshow occurred on intersections and motorway on-ramps about four weeks ago. There was noise, blood and guts. The public noticed. … Read more
Chaos reigned, if only briefly, over the Auckland CBD today. Don Rowe moves through a world of swirling ideology and takes an exhilirating walk down Queen Street with a few thousand other people. “You’re a very loud minority!” sneered a solitary businessman in an off-pink dress shirt. A few people turned their heads, someone called … Read more
In Gone By Lunchtime, the Spinoff’s new politics podcast, Toby Manhire is joined by former Native Affairs producer Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas of political PR outfit Exceltium to discuss the Waitangi kerfuffles, the trade deal row, state of the nation speeches from the four main party leaders, and home baking. Listen on iTunes or … Read more
At something like 5am in the Coca-Cola city, the deal was done. The nations’ representatives had presumably been reduced to 12 hangry men – or, more precisely, 11 men and one woman – and after more than five years of negotiation, squabbling and secrecy, a Partenariat Transpacifique, as they like to call it on the … Read more