(LONDON) The United Kingdom signs a post-Brexit trade agreement with New Zealand on Monday, the British government announced, which is seeking to strengthen its commercial ties in the Indo-Pacific region with the ambition to integrate the trans-Pacific trade treaty.
Posted at 11:24 a.m.
London announced an agreement in principle with Wellington at the end of October and hopes that this new partnership will increase trade between the two countries by nearly 60%.
The Labor opposition had denounced an agreement that only benefits “the megacorporations that run New Zealand’s meat and dairy farms”, at the expense of British farmers.
A meeting is scheduled for Monday in London between the British Minister for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan and her New Zealand counterpart Damien O’Connor to formalize the signing, the British executive announced in a press release.
“This agreement will reduce formalities, remove all customs duties and facilitate the establishment and development of British service companies” in New Zealand, welcomed Anne-Marie Trevelyan, quoted in the press release.
The trade relationship between the two countries was worth £2.3 billion in 2020.
The new agreement will make it possible in particular to lift customs duties which today represent “up to 10% on clothing and shoes, 5% on buses and up to 5% on ships” or even certain construction machinery. such as bulldozers and excavators, according to the government statement.
The UK also hopes it will help open the doors of the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Partnership (CPTPP) to it and its market of half a billion people in 11 countries, with a joint GDP of $8.4 trillion. in 2020.
Signed in particular by New Zealand, Australia or even Canada and Japan, it is the most important free trade pact in the region. The UK formally requested to join just over a year ago.
The United Kingdom had signed a post-Brexit free trade agreement in December with Australia, which has also been criticized for an uncertain profit and its environmental impact.
Since its exit from the European Union, which became a reality on the 1er January, London has also concluded trade agreements with the EU, Japan, or with European countries that are not members of the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.