A comprehensive trade agreement with New Zealand will cut red tape for businesses, end tariffs on UK exports and create new opportunities for tech and services companies, while making it easier for UK professionals to live and work in New Zealand.
The ground-breaking deal was agreed between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, after 16 months of talks by Department for International Trade negotiators.
UK-New Zealand trade was worth £2.3 billion last year and is set to grow under the deal. The deal will remove barriers to trade and deepen access for our advanced tech and services companies, while making it easier for smaller businesses to break into the New Zealand market.
Tariffs as high as 10% will be removed on a huge range of UK goods, from clothing and footwear to buses, ships, bulldozers and excavators, giving British exporters an advantage over international rivals in the New Zealand import market - a market which is expected to grow by around 30% by 2030. High-quality New Zealand products loved by British consumers, from Sauvignon Blanc wine to Manuka honey and kiwi fruits, will be cheaper to buy.
UK workers will benefit from improved business travel arrangements and professionals such as lawyers and architects will be able to work in New Zealand more easily, allowing UK companies to set up shop and bring the best British talent with them. Both sides have also committed to a mobility dialogue outside the trade agreement that will consider how people-to-people links can be deepened further.
The New Zealand trade deal follows advanced free trade agreements already struck with Australia and Japan and helps pave the way for UK to join Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade area of 11 Pacific nations with a GDP of £8.4 trillion in 2020.
This will also bring distinct benefits for Wales:
- Welsh auto companies will benefit from the removal of tariffs of up to 10% and build on their £3.4m of exports to New Zealand last year. Over 4,000 jobs in the Welsh automotive industry were supported by exports in 2016, with Welsh manufacturers exporting £3.4m of vehicles to New Zealand last year.
- Welsh furniture makers will benefit from the removal of 5% tariffs, creating an opportunity to grow sales to New Zealand worth £1.1m last year.
- Welsh manufacturing companies like Zip-Clip will benefit from the removal of up to 5% tariffs on manufactured metal goods. K-Form, which makes plastic construction products, will also see the removal of up to 5% tariffs.
- Welsh businesses who sold £5.7m of stone-based products to New Zealand last year will also benefit from the removal of 5% tariffs
Commenting on the announcement, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“This is great trade deal for the United Kingdom, cementing our long friendship with New Zealand and furthering our ties with the Indo-Pacific.
“It will benefit businesses and consumers across the country, cutting costs for exporters and opening up access for our workers.
“This is a fantastic week for Global Britain. On Tuesday we raised almost £10bn in investment for the industries of the future, and this new deal will help drive green growth here and on the other side of the world in New Zealand.”
And International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:
“This deal is a win-win for two like-minded democracies who believe in free and fair trade. It delivers for families, workers and businesses across Britain, and sets the stage for greater cooperation between our two nations on global challenges like digital trade and climate change.
“It is a vital part of our plan to level up the country: slashing costs and red tape for exporters, building new trade routes for our services companies and refocusing Britain on the dynamic economies of Asia-Pacific.”
Finally, Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said:
“This is a big step towards stronger trading relations with New Zealand, a nation with which Wales has so much in common.
“Welsh businesses and consumers will continue to grow as part of an outward looking global Britain as we continue to sign free trade agreements around the world.”
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