NZ: Exporter cheer - ANZ

According to analysts at ANZ, the export community will be cheering the tentative support shown by the new government and 10 other nations to the revamped TPPA, or also now known as CPTPP.

Key Quotes

“The bulk of the agreement, minus the US and suspension of several of the more controversial clauses, appears largely intact. In fact the suspended clauses for investor state dispute settlement, extended patents of biologics and 70 years copyright were all areas considered to be of net cost to the NZ economy (some of the trade-offs for access to the US). So at first blush it seems really only about the loss of the US. Many exporters will be cheering as New Zealand was beginning to get left behind in Japan (one of our best export prospects in Asia) with Australia and Europe gaining better access.”

“NAFTA negotiations also look on shaky ground, so better market access to Canada and Mexico could come just at the right time. While the benefits are often difficult to quantify, lower tariff rates, removal of other non-tariff barriers, harmonisation of the rules governing trade between members, placing exporters on an equal footing with competitors and being at the heart of shaping future trade policy in some of the wealthiest consumer markets, has got to benefit overall welfare and lift national income for a small and already open trade dependent economy.”