Piako MPs welcome TPP trade deal
Piako MPs Lindsay Tisch (Waikato) and Scott Simpson (Coromandel) comment on last week’s signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
LINDSAY TISCH
At the start of February, New Zealand hosted the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Years of negotiation now open up 800 million potential customers to our exporters. TPP is expected to enter into force within two years, once countries have completed their domestic implementation processes.
For New Zealand, this means that following signature the Government will submit the final text of TPP and a National Interest Analysis to Parliament. The legislative changes needed to implement TPP will then go through normal policy and Parliamentary procedures.
The 12 countries involved in TPP make up 36 per cent of the world economy. New Zealand sells around $28 billion worth of goods and services to other TPP countries each year. The agreement includes Japan and the United States, two of the three largest economies in the world, which successive governments have tried to get a free-trade deal with for 25 years.
Once TPP tariff commitments are fully phased in, our exporters will save around $274 million a year thanks to a reduction in the tariffs they currently pay to get their products into TPP markets. Often there are also other barriers to trade, including import
restrictions or complex documentation requirements,
which are frustrating to exporters. Eliminating these unlocks enormous opportunities for businesses to expand. This is a big deal for a small country such as New Zealand that relies on trade to grow its economy. It further builds on the Government’s wider plan to diversify and strengthen our economy, support more jobs, and provide more opportunities for Kiwis to get ahead.
The Government will be running a series of roadshows throughout the country in the coming months, for interested members of the public to learn more about TPP, and to assist businesses to identify and plan for new export opportunities when TPP comes into force in around two years.
All this is expected to be worth at least $2.7 billion a year to New Zealand by 2030. We know from the free trade agreement with China that these figures are likely to be underestimated. Two-way trade with China exploded after that deal was signed.
The opportunities that TPP presents are going to be a real boost for the Kiwi economy.
‘‘Years of negotiation now open up 800 million potential customers to our exporters.’’ ‘‘As an export oriented small trading nation not to be part of a part of major free trade agreement would be absolutely unthinkable.’’
Scott Simpson
I am proud to support the signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
It is a significant step in achieving a better deal in trade for our country. In the words of former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark it would be ‘‘unthinkable’’ for New Zealand to be excluded.
As an export oriented small trading nation not to be part of a part of major free trade agreement would be absolutely unthinkable for New Zealand.
Our hospitals and schools come from the wealth created on our farms, factories and services. As New Zealanders we all want improving services but we have to pay for them.
Those services come from the taxes that are generated by increased trade and profits many of which come from our very productive region.
After the signing, the final TPP text and together with a National Interest Analysis, there will be a full Parliamentary examination by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.
During this time, the public will be invited to make submissions as part of the consultation process as it should be.