When it comes to tension between the US and China, National and Labour are on the same side – the fence. Guyon Espiner examines a foreign policy that tries to have it both ways. We have the Five Eyes alliance with the US but have no free trade agreement with them. We have the FTA … 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
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
The new government’s attempts to soften up public opinion for the return of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a masterclass in spin, writes ActionStation’s Laura O’Connell Rapira. As outgoing RNZ news director at Brent Edwards recently said, we need to stop treating the goings-on of our democracy as a carnival or sport. Too often we … 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
By plunging into negotiations with Latin American countries in the Pacific Alliance, New Zealand maintains its shameful record of failing to hold partners to account on labour abuses, argues Laila Harré. New Zealand has launched into formal trade negotiations with four Latin American countries, becoming first in line to join the Pacific Alliance as an … 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
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
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