Abstract
The ‘golden weather’ for New Zealand trade policy is well and truly over. Confronted by a new world trade transition—an era of increasing complexity characterised by a great unravelling of existing assumptions and a rules-based trading system that is fragmenting at worst and under severe strain at best—COVID-19 has further exacerbated the challenges confronting the international trade policy of a small developed economy. This chapter situates New Zealand’s trade policy within International Relations theory and provides an overview of the context for New Zealand trade policy, including in the COVID-19 era. It proceeds to identify two specific reference points that inform New Zealand’s trade policy going forward and concludes with an outline of its dynamic and evolving six-part framework for navigating these turbulent times for trade policy.
The views contained in this paper are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent those of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Including, for the first time, enforceable rules and disciplines on agriculture, services and intellectual property.
- 2.
For more information about the Interim Mechanism, see the full WTO notification: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2020/april/tradoc_158731.pdf (Accessed 8 August 2020).
- 3.
On, for instance, EU legislation placing restrictions and specific additional requirements on the export of a range of medical equipment see: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2020:077I:TOC (Accessed 8 August 2020).
- 4.
The statement is available at: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/CPTPP/CPTPP-Joint-Declaration-Progressive-and-Inclusive-Trade-Final.pdf (Accessed 8 August 2020). It provided the basis for the work of the Trade for All Advisory Board.
- 5.
This is a reference to GATT Article XXIV that specifies that regional trade agreements should cover ‘substantially all trade’.
- 6.
This Agreement was (digitally) signed by all three partners on 12 June 2020. It is believed to be the first international trade treaty to be signed digitally. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/digital-trade-agreement-timely-response-covid-19 (Accessed 8 August 2020). More information about this agreement is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-concluded-but-not-in-force/digital-economy-partnership-agreement (Accessed 8 August 2020).
- 7.
The Joint Ministerial Statement (with updated participants) is available at: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/covid-19-and-trade/joint-ministerial-statement-affirming-commitment-to-ensuring-supply-chain-connectivity-amidst-the-covid-19-situation-updated/ (Accessed 9 August 2020).
- 8.
The statement is available here: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/news/joint-ministerial-statement (Accessed 9 August 2020).
- 9.
Launched by the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the UN General Assembly together with Costa Rica, Fiji, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Negotiations will formally commence in 2021. More information is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/climate/agreement-on-climate-change-trade-and-sustainability-accts-negotiations (Accessed 9 August 2020).
- 10.
The press release announcing the launch of the initiative is available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/covid-19-response-new-zealand-and-singapore-launch-initiative-ensure-free-flow-essential (Accessed 9 August 2020).
- 11.
See for instance, Minister Parker’s speech ‘Trade for All and the State of International Trade’ available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/trade-all-and-state-international-trade (Accessed 24 August 2020).
- 12.
The Melian Dialogue refers to an exchange reported by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War between the major power of the era (Athens) and Sparta; during the Athenians’ siege of the small neutral city state of Melos they chillingly declared ‘the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must’. Following the ‘dialogue’ the state of Melos was extinguished.
- 13.
The first exposition of these ‘traps’ for New Zealand trade policy is contained in a presentation to the parliamentary Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee available at https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/document/52SCFD_ADV_78569_1971/ministry-of-foreign-affairs-defence-and-trade-initial (Accessed 14 March 2020).
- 14.
See https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1422780/china-needs-patience-achieve-peaceful-rise?page=all (Accessed 16 April 2020).
- 15.
More information about this initiative is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/environment/clean-energy-and-fossil-fuels (Accessed 7 March 2020).
- 16.
See also https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz%E2%80%99s-interests-advanced-international-trade-forums (Accessed 12 August 2020).
- 17.
An outline of the government’s approach to the trade-led dimensions of the economic recovery from COVID-19 is provided at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/trade-can-help-economy-rebound-rebuild-and-recover. See also the Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and senior officials’ appearance before the parliamentary New Zealand Epidemic Response Committee available at https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/epidemic-response/news-archive/watch-public-meetings-of-the-epidemic-response-committee (The minister’s opening remarks commence at 0:42:30; with senior trade officials providing further detail from 1:19:30. Accessed 31 August 2020).
- 18.
The members of the TPP are Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore (the P4); Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, United States and Vietnam. For more information about how the P4 morphed into the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, see http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Trade-and-Economic-Relations/2-Trade-Relationships-and-Agreements/Trans-Pacific/2-P4.php (Accessed 29 August 2020).
- 19.
More information about CPTPP is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/cptpp (Accessed 29 August 2020).
- 20.
More information about the Trade for All Agenda is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/nz-trade-policy/trade-for-all-agenda (Accessed 10 August 2020).
- 21.
Information about the New Zealand–Australia Indigenous Cooperation Arrangement is available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/australia-and-new-zealand-indigenous-arrrangement (Accessed 30 August 2020).
- 22.
For more information about Te Taumata see https://www.tetaumata.com (Accessed 29 August 2020).
- 23.
Including Chile and Canada. More information about this grouping is available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/inclusive-trade-action-group-meets-port-moresby (Accessed 29 August 2020).
- 24.
New Zealand’s Covid-19 trade recovery strategy is outlined at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/trade-recovery-strategy (Accessed 31 August 2020).
- 25.
More information on both the trade barrier tool and the tariff finder is available at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/how-we-help-exporters/services-for-exporters/barriers-to-trade (Accessed 30 August 2020).
- 26.
More information about the joint announcement is available at https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/prime-ministers-jacinda-ardern-and-scott-morrison-announce-plans-trans-tasman-covid-safe (Accessed 30 August 2020).
References
Allison, G. (2017). Destined for war: America, China and the Thucydides Trap. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Bernard, A. B., Jensen, J. B., Redding, S. J., & Schott, P. K. (2012). The Empirics of firm heterogeneity and international trade. Annual Review of Economics, 4, 283–313.
Berthelon, M., & Freund, C. (2004). On the conservation of distance in international trade (World Bank Research Working Paper 3293). Washington: The World Bank.
Boulhol H., de Serres, A., Molnar, M. (2008). The Contribution of Economic Geography to GDP Per Capita. OECD Economics Department Working Paper Number 602. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Brady, A.-M. (Ed.). (2019). Small States and the changing Global order: New Zealand faces the future. Springer.
Copeland, D. C. (2000). The constructivist challenge to structural realism: A review essay. International Security, 25(2), 187–212.
Dunne, T., Kurki, M., & Smith, S. (Eds.). (2013). International relations theories: Discipline and diversity (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Elms, D. (2009). From the P4 to the TPP: Explaining expansion interests in the Asia–Pacific. Paper prepared for the Asia-Pacific Trade Economists’ Conference. Bangkok, 2–3 November.
Evenett, S. (2019, October 17). The emerging global trade disorder. Presentation to IMF, Washington.
Evenett, S. (2020, March 23). Tackling Covid19 together: The trade policy dimension. Global Trade Alert. https://www.globaltradealert.org/reports/51. Accessed 27 March 2020.
Fabling, R., & Sanderson, L. (2010). Exporting and performance: Market entry, expansion and destination characteristics. Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper 2010/17. Wellington: Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Hoadley, S. (2019). New Zealand’s trade policy. In A.-M. Brady (Ed.), Small states and the changing global order: New Zealand faces the future (pp. 287–305). Springer.
Keohane, R. O. (1984). After hegemony: Cooperation and discord in the world political economy. Princeton University Press.
Lebow, R. N. (2013). Classical Realism. In T. Dunne, M. Kurki, & S. Smith (Eds.), International relations theories: Discipline and diversity (pp. 59–76). Oxford University Press.
Leslie, J. (2015). New Zealand trade strategy and evolving Asia–Pacific regional economic architecture. Asia New Zealand Foundation.
MFAT [New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade]. (2014). Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a closer economic partnership. MFAT.
MFAT [New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade]. (2017). Estimating New Zealand’s tradable and non-tradable sectors using Input–Output Tables. Paper presented at the New Zealand Association of Economists’ Conference, 12–14 July 2017.
National Business Review. (2008, September 23). Goff welcomes US FTA negotiations. National Business Review.
Nye. J. S. (2017, January 9). The kindleberger trap. Project Syndicate. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-china-kindleberger-trap-by-joseph-s--nye-2017-01. Accessed 3 March 2021.
NZIER [New Zealand Institute for Economic Research]. (2016, November). Quantifying the costs of non-tariff measures in the Asia-Pacific region (Working paper 2016/4). Wellington: NZIER.
Parker, D. (2019, June 29). The future of the WTO and trade structures. Speech to the Otago Foreign Policy School. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/future-wto-and-trade-structures. Accessed 3 March 2021.
Waltz, K. N. (1979). Theory of international politics. Addison Wesley.
Wendt, A. (1992). Anarchy is what states make of it: The social construction of power politics. International Organization, 46(2), 391–425.
World Trade Organization. (2009). Trade policy review report by New Zealand. WTO.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vitalis, V. (2022). The End of the Golden Weather: New Zealand’s Trade Policy During a Time of International Transition. In: Patman, R.G., Köllner, P., Kiglics, B. (eds) From Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific. Global Political Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7007-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7007-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-7006-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-7007-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)