New Zealand pleads with Trump to spare ally from fresh tariffs: ‘please don’t do that’

The finance minister urged the incoming administration to exempt Wellington from any new levies, highlighting the balanced trade ties between the two sides

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US president-elect Donald Trump arrives at the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala on December 9. Photo: AP

Published: 9:10am, 13 Dec 2024Updated: 9:12am, 13 Dec 2024

New Zealand believes it should be exempt from any sweeping US tariffs that president-elect Donald Trump might impose when he takes office and has instructed officials to make its case, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said.

“Our starting position is please don’t do that,” Willis said in an interview on Thursday in Wellington. “The job that we’ve tasked our diplomats with is to put New Zealand’s absolute best foot forward.”

Trump has threatened across-the-board tariffs on both US friends and foes, specifically targeting China but including 10 per cent duties on the rest of the world. While New Zealand is a tiny trading partner from Washington’s perspective, the US is New Zealand’s second-largest export market.

Trump’s rationale for imposing tariffs starts with the fact that the US imports more than it exports so has a trade deficit. But Willis said the US-New Zealand trade relationship is “rather balanced” and has grown significantly in recent years.

In the year through September, New Zealand exported NZ$15.8 billion (US$9 billion) of goods and services to the US and imported NZ$11.3 billion from it. While some tariffs are applied, they are relatively small. New Zealand beef exports into the US, for example, currently attract tariffs of less than 1 per cent.

“The US likes what we are selling, they like our wine, they like our dairy products,” Willis said. “We think that given the strong partnership that’s existed for many years between our two countries, there’s every reason for that to continue.”