The US will begin negotiations early next year to join a free-trade agreement between Singapore, Chile, Brunei and New Zealand that it hopes will grow into an even larger trans-Pacific trade pact, the US announced on Monday.
'We need to ensure our trade will continue to expand so that it can contribute to US economic growth in the future. Strengthening our economic ties to the trans-Pacific region is vital to achieving this goal,' US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said at a news conference.
New Zealand produce exporters have welcomed the news of the proposed pact, which is expected to add NZ$1bn a year to the New Zealand economy.
Kiwifruit exporter Zespri's chief executive, Lain Jager, said it would be good if the US lowered duty to make New Zealand kiwifruit imports more competitive, particularly against Chile.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on Monday said she was 'blown away by the news'.
'It could be worth up to NZ$1bn per year for the local economy,' she said.
The deal should be worth far more, and easier to negotiate for New Zealand, than the free trade agreement signed with China earlier this year, The Nelson Mail said.
The US is New Zealand’s second-biggest trading partner, accounting for 10 percent of the country’s trade, the paper said.
New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff is currently in the US, where he and US trade representative Susan Schwab were expected to officially announce negotiations in Washington later on Tuesday.
However, news of the deal, which could represent the biggest trade pact for New Zealand since closer economic relations with Australia in the 1980s, seeped out early.
No comments yet