Trade Minister Damien O’Connor has revived hopes that New Zealand can land a free trade agreement with the UK this year and another one subsequently with the EU, following his just- concluded mission to European capitals.
Farm lobbies had not been confident when he set out. In the case of the UK we had been beaten to the punch by Australia.
It seemed unlikely NZ could get anything better than their Australian counterparts who appeared willing to accept a long phaseout on duties on, in particular, most farm products, including dairy.
Since then Australia has entered the AUKUS pact, which particularly riled France’s President Macron because Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear submarines from the US meant cancellation of a previous (very expensive) deal to buy French diesel-powered submarines.
So one of the major thrusts of O’Connor’s mission became advancing free trade negotiations with the EU.