National says Damien O'Connor must fly to India to restart trade talks

Damien O'Connor should go to India for trade talks, National says. Photo / NZME

National is calling for Trade Minister Damien O'Connor to fly to India to restart trade negotiations with India, following the news Australia has inked an "early harvest" agreement with India, a deal close to a full fair trade agreement (FTA).

National's trade spokesman Todd McClay said O'Connor needed to "get his act together and fly to India to get the job done for our exporters".

But O'Connor said concluding a full FTA with India "is not a realistic short-term prospect".

He said the Government had focused resources towards "successfully delivering the UK free trade agreement and are now negotiating the conclusion of an FTA with the European Union".

McClay said Australia's agreement would give 85 per cent of Australia's exports tariff-free access to India, and allow wine and fruit lower tariffs.

McClay said the New Zealand wine industry had to pay "a 150 per cent tariff to get into India, while Australians now only pay 50 per cent".

New Zealand's lamb exporters currently pay 30 per cent to sell in India, and Australia now pays nothing, he said.

"India is one of the world's largest economies and New Zealand's second-largest trading partner without a free trade agreement," McClay said.

The last formal round of negotiations (the 10th round) occurred in Delhi in February 2015, two years before the National government left office. Former National leader Simon Bridges visited India while leader to highlight the importance of that relationship.

O'Connor said New Zealand held "intensive" negotiations with India "in the context of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) FTA negotiations, especially in 2018 and 2019, before India withdrew from the RCEP negotiations in November 2019."

He said provisions in RCEP meant India's accession could be "expedited" should it wish to rejoin RCEP in the future.

O'Connor said the Government was "acutely aware of the impact an 'early-harvest' Australia-India deal may have on future commercial opportunities for some New Zealand exporters, and we are engaged closely with industry leaders on this".

McClay said Labour had "paid next to no attention to India over the last four years and now appears to have thrown in the towel".