NZ is effectively back to where it was pre-1973, when it had separate trading arrangements with Britain and Europe.
Today, it has FTAs with both the UK and the EU and its 27 member countries.
While both are trade deals in name and reality, they are more than that. They lock in a whole host of other things that were never thought about in the 1970s when the EEC was expanding its membership. The FTAs incorporate values, aspirations and commitments about such things as climate change, environmental standards, commitment to rules based trade, animal welfare, treatment of people and open up special opportunities for Māori. They are strong political agreements, and as we have seen, NZ's support for the EU's stance on Ukraine was something that helped get the EU FTA across the line.
There are some who believed that NZ negotiators caved in and should not have signed the FTA because it didn't offer sufficient access for meat and dairy products. While Australia has held off signing a deal, the reality is that NZ does not have the political sway of our mates across the ditch and in the end a deal was done that left NZ and European farmers equally unhappy.
As the EU Ambassador to NZ Nina Obermaier said, the negotiators struck the sweet spot and got a deal that will likely be ratified by the European parliament and that is very important. It is also fair to say no one from our horticulture sector is complaining about the FTA.
So, the time to bitch about the deal is over and NZ companies now need to take the half full glass approach and use their creative juices to gain the advantages that the FTA offers. There are plenty of opportunities.
It is also time to pay tribute to the NZ trade negotiators for the tremendous job they did for us over the five years it took to get to where we are now. They worked crazy hours, on complex issues, often online, to get this 'trailblazing' deal. And let's not forget our politicians who weighed in at critical times to break potential deadlocks in the negotiations.
