Golden age of trade over, New Zealand must diversify its partners – Associate Trade Minister

Vangelis Vitalis said primary industry exports experienced a boom period between 1995 and 2017, but since then, things have become more difficult (file photo).
photo: RNZ Insight/Philippa Tolley

The Associate Trade Minister says the golden age of trade is over and New Zealand needs to work to diversify its trading partners.

Vangelis Vitalis made the comments at a primary industries conference in Wellington on Wednesday morning.

Mr Vitalis said primary exports had experienced boom times between 1995 and 2017, but conditions had become tougher since then.

He said countries were increasing protection of their domestic industries and superpowers such as the United States and China were moving away from normal trade relations.

“Ask any Australian, whether it’s a wine exporter, a barley exporter or a coal exporter, how big the geopolitical challenge is because China has shut them down.

“Geopolitics is getting harder to deal with. Big countries are now moving away from the rules-based trading system. And we, the small and medium-sized countries, are increasingly becoming collateral damage. We need to find ways to mitigate this risk.”

Vitalis said New Zealand could not rest on its laurels, especially if it wanted to achieve its goal of doubling exports in the next decade.

“It’s important to remember, as the Prime Minister said, this policy is ‘China and …’.”

He said China accounted for 23 percent of New Zealand’s exports and was “vitally important”.

“But while we have trade agreements with China and Hong Kong, we also have agreements with our CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) partners. Those partners account for 27 per cent of our trade.”

He said New Zealand was trying to “hedge” its risks.

“Then you add in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). The big news there is the growing market in Indonesia, as well as growth in Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.”

New Zealand is trying to expand its trade network through the agreement.

In addition to exploring new markets, Vitalis said we also need to make the most of the deals we have already made.