New Zealand Prime Minister Mum on TPP, But High on China, India

New Zealand Prime Minister Mum on TPP, But High on China, India
By Everic White
October 20, 2015
414 words

During a Wednesday breakfast talk at the Asia Society Policy Institute, New Zealand Prime Minister did not discuss any details about the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal to lower trade barriers among Pacific Rim countries. But he stressed the importance of his country’s economic relations with Asia, particularly China and a rising India, and expressed his confidence in New Zealand’s economic future.

“We trade more with Asia in a week than we did in an entire year basically back in the 1970s,” he said, attributing the growth to the April 2008 free trade between China and New Zealand. He said the agreement is responsible for $20 billion in trade for the two countries and that amount is quickly growing.

Key acknowledged Chinese tourism’s importance to New Zealand’s economy, with over 320,000 Chinese tourists vacationing there every year. He cited the average of eight days Chinese tourists now stay in New Zealand, compared with three days, a decade ago. He saved his most effusive praise for India, a country soon to surpass China in population by 2022.

“We’re really excited about what we see in India, with Prime Minister Modi in place. We’re simply seeing a lot more economic activity,” he said. Though India’s economic growth has slowed from 7.5 to 7%, it is still expected to continue to grow via Modi’s infrastructure spending and courting of tech companies. Key also noted the country’s ballooning work force. “By 2025, one in four workers worldwide will be Indian,” he said. “They’re young and they want to buy a lot.”

From there, Key extolled the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but did not present specific details about the deal, the negotiations, or the upcoming meeting in Atlanta. He fell in line with other heads of state, agreeing “not to release the ticks” of the deal. He did, however express that the TPP would be a good deal for his country, and expressed his confidence in New Zealand’s economic future.

“We’ve been growing faster than most OECD nations,” he said, “We’re likely to be back in surplus now.” New Zealand’s dollar has faced mixed performance though, amidst dropping dairy prices. He also cited New Zealand’s reliance on renewable saying his country is “80% renewable in energy.”

Key closed out the talk with a question and answer session. Asked about the difficulties in negotiating for the TPP, he again declined to add specifics. “We expect the deal to be as good as it can be,” he said, “You never get 100% of what you want.”