Trade Minister Damien O’Connor has urged those calling for bigger wins to reflect on the political "reality" of what New Zealand’s negotiators can achieve.
O’Connor is currently in Brussels with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to sign the trade deal with the European Union — which includes big wins for some sectors — but much more modest gains for red meat and dairy industries.
Meanwhile Australia’s negotiators have continued to push the European Union, refusing to sign a deal they don’t think gives them enough market access.
O'Connor told Q+A: “Look, that is the reality. We do not get everything we want. Sometimes we get what we need. And actually we went right to the wire, pushing them as far as we could. We are a market of five million people. Australia is considerably larger.
"And so every country will negotiate with the coin that it has, and we do not have a lot, but we got a pretty good deal."
He said any increase in access for major exports is something to be celebrated.
“The EU is a really tough market. There has been a lot of subsidies, a lot of protectionism. And when it comes to beef and agricultural products, dairy — a very hard market to get access to," O'Connor said.
“Their local farmers are the ones that produce the food that most of their people think feed them. Now we come in and we supplement, we complement that.
"But they want to know that their farmers and the returns they are getting are not being undermined by cheap imports.”
A similar theme ran through the minister’s comments about any potential free trade agreement (FTA) with India, which National has said would be a key strategic priority if they are to get into government.
O’Connor said right now, the best New Zealand can hope for with the billion-person emerging superpower is a “business relationship”, rather than a full FTA.
“I will be travelling to India in the next month or so, just to keep that relationship going. And as long as we do not mention a free trade agreement, the Indians want to build that further. But they are, for local political reasons, absolutely opposed to the discussions on a free trade agreement," he said.
“The reality in trade is that dairy is the sensitive option.
"They have the biggest dairy industry in the world. They have farmers that produce five or ten litres of milk per day — very sensitive to market prices.”
Q+A with Jack Tame is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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