Source: AFP
Brussels on Monday gave the final green light to an EU-New Zealand trade deal that, while mutually lowering barriers for both markets, underscores the recent failure of EU-Australia negotiations.
The European Council, which represents the 27 EU member states, said it had adopted New Zealand’s pact, which will enter into force “probably in early 2024” once Wellington ratifies it.
The deal sees a gradual reduction in tariffs on New Zealand imports of lamb, beef, wine and fruit such as kiwifruit, while European exports, including machinery and vehicles, as well as chocolate, wine and biscuits, will also benefit.
Two-way trade in goods and services currently stands at €9.1 billion (US$10 billion), but is expected to grow by 30 percent in a decade under the new agreement.
New Zealand’s government estimates the deal could generate an extra $365 million a year from its beef, sheep and dairy exports.
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The EU, with a population of 450 million, is the third largest export market for New Zealand, with a population of five million.
The deal is not without its critics in Europe.
France’s beef and dairy industries, for example, have expressed wariness about New Zealand products sourced from land using pesticides or herbicides banned in the European Union.
The European Commission, however, stressed that all food reaching the EU market must comply with EU standards and promised a “robust” system of controls.
The passage of the New Zealand trade deal was in contrast to the collapse last month of a much larger deal the EU had been negotiating with Australia for six years.
Those talks, aimed at expanding trade currently worth 56 billion euros, focused on agricultural issues.
One issue was how willing Europe was to open its market to Australian lamb, beef and sugar imports.
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Another was the extent to which Canberra was willing to adopt EU GIs given that Australian producers currently produce products with names that Brussels wants to make exclusively in European regions.
Brussels is trying to seal another, even bigger trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc, where two-way trade currently stands at 98 billion euros.
That pact was agreed in general terms in 2019 but has since stalled over EU concerns about deforestation and agricultural competition and Brazil’s concerns about opening up public procurement to European companies.
The EU and the four Mercosur countries are seeing if they can complete the deal by the end of next week.
But the election in Argentina of a populist with economically radical policies, Javier Milei, to the presidency has cast a shadow over this.
Source: AFP