£800 million to the British economy over the next decade. “Our trade with New Zealand will soar, benefiting businesses and consumers throughout the UK and helping level up the whole country,” she said. According to the minister, the agreement would mean that tariffs of up to 10 per cent on clothing and footwear, fiver per cent on ships, excavators and bulldozers and another five per cent on buses will be eliminated.
Many experts are of the view that the agreement provides UK businesses with an opportunity to provide services on an equal footing with Kiwi businesses. “The agreement will also boost trade in environmental goods and services – essential for the transition to net zero,” William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said. However, some critics, particularly from the agricultural sector say benefits from the agreement are economically marginal, and expose sectors like dairy, beef, lamb and horticulture to unfair competition.
“Once again, there appears to be extremely little in this New Zealand trade deal to benefit British farmers. UK farm businesses face significantly higher costs of production than farmers in New Zealand, and margins are likely to tighten further in the face of rising input costs, higher energy bills and labour shortages,” Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said. “The government is now asking British farmers to go toe-to-toe with some of the most export-oriented farmers in the world, without the serious, long-term and properly funded investment in UK agriculture that can enable us to do so; the sort of strategic investment in farming and exports that the New Zealand government has made in recent decades.”
Trade between the UK and the Pacific island was worth £2.3 billion in 2020. When the deal was agreed in principle last year, New Zealand said it would boost its GDP by almost £500 million.
