McClay said New Zealand and the US had a “well-balanced and complementary trade profile”, with the US enjoying many of our high-quality goods and services and US exporters benefiting from New Zealand’s low tariff regime and enabling investment framework.
“We used the opportunity to talk about the strong and mutually beneficial trade relationship between New Zealand and the United States.
“Officials at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, remain engaged with their US counterparts, and I look forward to meeting USTR [US trade representative] Greer in person soon to further discuss ways to grow trade and investment between our two countries.”
In an opinion piece published by the Herald, New Zealand Initiative executive director Oliver Hartwich said if Trump were to impose direct tariffs on New Zealand exports, it would immediately damage New Zealand’s dairy, meat and wine industries.
“American consumers would pay more for New Zealand products, reducing demand and forcing our producers to accept lower prices to maintain market share.
“But even if we somehow escape direct targeting, the indirect effects could be equally damaging. New Zealand’s largest export market remains China, taking roughly 25% of our goods.”
Hartwich said if Chinese growth slowed under the weight of American tariffs, demand for New Zealand’s primary exports would inevitably suffer.
Trump ups the ante
- Trump unveiled 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods on February 1, with a lower rate of 10% for Canadian oil. But hours before they were due to take effect on February 4, Trump agreed to delay the move for a month. Fast-forward to March 4: the tariffs come into force, hitting imports from Mexico such as avocado or tomatoes and Canadian goods such as lumber. Three days later, Trump gave the two countries another one-month delay, this time on products covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – a pact the US leader signed into law during his first term in office. In response to the pause, Canada delayed its own second wave of retaliatory tariffs on Can$125 billion ($87 billion) worth of US products until April 2.
- Trump slapped 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium on Wednesday this week, hitting every country that exports the metals.
- The European Union swiftly unveiled retaliation starting in April, targeting $28 billion worth of US products, including boats, bourbon and motorbikes. Top steel producer China also vowed to hit back, though its exports to the United States are small in comparison.
- Trump on Thursday then threatened to impose 200% tariffs on wine, champagne and alcoholic products from European Union countries, sparking opprobrium from French vintners and policymakers alike.
- Trump has also signed plans for sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” that could hit both allies and adversaries by April 2. The levies would be tailored to each US trading partner and take into account the tariffs they impose on American goods, alongside taxes the White House has said are discriminatory, such as value-added taxes. April 2 is also the day that the delayed tariffs from Mexico and Canada are supposed to come into force.
- with AFP
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
