TPP will be good for New Zealand – A Kiwi farmer’s view

Canterbury farmer Craige Mackenzie expresses his support for TPP on the Global Farmer Network.

Here in New Zealand, we expect a pitched battle over TPP. As an island nation, we’re an outward-looking country. We produce high quality food, with an emphasis on ethics and environmental sustainability. My own farms focus on seed production and dairy farming on the South Island, New Zealand’s larger but less populated island.

All of us New Zealanders depend on our ability to trade with other countries—and TPP will give us better access to 800 million middle-income customers, eliminating tariffs on 93 percent of our exports.

TPP will improve our ability to buy and sell with the United States and Japan. The agreement is the equivalent of opening new storefronts in the world’s largest and third-largest economies. In addition we’re looking forward to better economic relations with Canada, Mexico, and Peru, which are also TPP signatories.

The benefits are mutual. Just as we’ll sell more to Americans and others, they’ll sell more to us. I don’t know that TPP will add many jobs to New Zealand’s economy, but it may change the jobs we do, as we constantly learn new skills, create new and more products and discover new ways to help each other.

Read Craige’s full post at http://globalfarmernetwork.org/2016/02/the-trans-pacific-partnership-will-be-good-for-new-zealand. Tradeworks is grateful to the Global Farmer Network for their permission to use this post.