Trade Minister Todd McClay to head to the US, hoping to ease New Zealand's tariff hike, and Forest and Bird says loosening rules on conservation land puts our biodiversity at risk.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is remaining tight-lipped on details this morning ahead of a “massive” NCEA announcement.
He is also facing questions about New Zealand representatives’ imminent visit to the US to plead the country’s case in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 15% tariff hike.
Luxon called the announcement “quite massive” this morning when speaking with Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking.
He said although they were open to consultation, they were pretty set on their ideas as it had been formed on the back of the outpouring of complaints from principals, teachers and parents.
The only hint Luxon provided was that it would be based on teaching the “core subjects”.
“We’ve got challenges with New Zealand students not being where they need to be on reading, literacy and numeracy.
“We’ve put a big focus on that, as you’ve seen in the primary and intermediate school sector.”
Earlier, Luxon said he was up for a “fundamental overhaul” of the NCEA, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement.
It is understood that the proposal aims to make the high school qualification clearer for students, as well as parents wanting to be involved in their child’s learning. The Government also wants to ensure greater consistency in how the qualification is delivered nationwide.
At the moment, schools and students pick and choose from a wide range of disparate subjects and standards. Concerns have been raised that this means their learning often lacks direction or they don’t engage in “core” learning.
Trade Minister to fly to US to talk tariffs
Luxon also told Mike Hosking that although they would be sending our representatives, he does not believe we have a chance of getting the tariff adjusted.
Luxon said last week that Trump’s announcement to impose a 15% tariff base rate had been a “blunt and rather late decision” based on New Zealand’s trade surplus with the US, meaning New Zealand sold more goods to the US than it bought.
Trade Minister Todd McClay will soon fly to the US to discuss the new tariff rate. Photo / Mike Scott.
“The President’s pretty fixed in his firm views, but we still need to have dialogue and a relationship with the American administration.
“I’d just say Todd McClay has a very good relationship with his counterpart, and we’ve had ongoing dialogue since the announcement of tariffs in April.”
Luxon earlier confirmed the country’s top trade diplomat, trade deputy secretary Vangelis Vitalis, would travel to the US imminently, while McClay had been invited by his US trade counterpart to visit in the coming weeks to discuss Trump’s surprise increase to New Zealand’s base tariff rate.
Other nations, including Australia and the United Kingdom, had only been given 10%, given their trade deficit with the US.
McClay, speaking to the roughly 500-person crowd in Christchurch on Saturday, said he had on Friday requested an “urgent” conversation with his US trade counterpart, Jamieson Greer.
He said the pair spoke at the weekend during which he told Greer New Zealand believed 15% was “unreasonable” and would harm some Kiwi exporters.
