The Finance Minister reckons New Zealand will eventually be able to work out a better deal with the Trump administration following last week's shock announcement.
President Donald Trump has unveiled a surprise 15 percent tariff on New Zealand - higher than that for both the UK and Australia.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis says there's a possibility things could improve, given the changing trading relationship between both nations.
"The question for us is - if it does change, does that mean we get better treatment?"
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And Nicolaus the Finance Ministers with US Hi, Nicola good Na, Heather?
Do you reckon this?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
On the tariffs? We won't get a better deal?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well? I think there is the possibility that we could,
in particular because the blunt reason why we're facing fifteen
percent is that in the most recent year we had
a trade deficit with the US. We sold them more
than we bought from them. But that has changed year
to year over the past decade, and we could expect
it to change in the future. So the question for
(00:46):
US is if it does change, does that mean we
get better treatment?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So do you think this is something that they are
going to keep revising as we go along?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, I would simply observe that they have continued to
revise their position on tariffs pretty continuously, and so it's
not impossible to imagine that that could continue into.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The But then isn't that something that's going to fluctuate
every single time we go into deficitle super from their
point of view, Look.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I don't know the answer to that, but that's exactly heavily.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is it possible you've being overly hopeful here, because I
mean this seems to me to have been locked in
at a point in time, and now Australia is it's
on ten percent and we sit on fifteen percent, and
I can't imagine that they're going to put the effort
into keeping on changing this every single time every single
country goes into a different position.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
This just means I'm being resolute, which is that we
need to take every opportunity and angle to push the
best case for our exporters, and we do think we
have a strong case. How that will be met by
the US administration is yet to unfold. But if this
is about trade deficits and surpluses and that's a changing position,
then we would hope that the tariff could change.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, So what's our strong case that we're taking to.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Them First, That we have a very balanced and complementary relationship,
that we're a very good and long standing friend of
the US, that our trade is complementary and non threatening,
and that we do expect to be buying quite a
lot from the US in the coming few years, and
that we'd like that reflected in Our.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Tower position is that with the Boeings.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well with our general defense procurement, we've made a big
commitment to building the capability of our defense force across
a number of areas. We y'd expect US manufacturers would
be some of those bidding for the contracts.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Had we thought about possibly removing all the tariffs that
we slap on US goods.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Well, all of those things are potential considerations in a negotiation,
but at this point, we already have incredibly low tariffs
on US goods, so we don't actually have that much
to bring to the table. And that's one of the
points that we've been making. We're not a country that's
been playing fast and loose. We haven't tried to break the.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Rules their footwear. We slap with ten percent.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That's all that low, which is low relative to a
lot of other countries.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We're getting percent, and we're moaning about that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So in terms but overall, in terms of how much
we import from the States, the average tariff rate across
what we actually import large amounts of lower than that.
Heither and our reciprocal tariffs are much lower than they
are and lots of the other countries. So we've got
a good case.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
What about if we because I know that they're apparently
annoyed about our biosecurity regime with some of their exports
imports for US, would we consider having a look at that.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, those are always things that we look at because
we play by the rules, which is we don't use
our biosecurity regime as an excuse for restricting an importation
of products. If it's ever perceived that we are, we're
always prepared to look at it. But this is a
case where anything that we do at our end we
want to lead to advantage for our exporters at the
(03:46):
US end. So those are the issues that our negotiators
will be stepping out.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Why didn't we send Vangelis Vitalis before.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, the very clear indication that we had at the
ministerial level was that we were not on the naughty list,
We weren't on the bad list, and that making efforts
to get negotiation weren't going to be successful because we
simply weren't on the list of people that were at risk.
And as it's played out, really there was an exception
(04:15):
made for Australia based on that blunt assessment that they
export more to the US than they import from the US,
and nothing we negotiated would have changed that.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Blunt fat Now, talk me through these dock charges. How
are we going to do this at for example, let's
say Cathedral Cove.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Well, a lot of people who go to Cathedral Cove
go on a boat as part of a tour group.
So you could envisage that potentially that tour group would
put the charge directly to those people they're putting on
the boat. You could also imagine that for those who
walk in, you could have some sort of a turnstile.
Technology these days is pretty advanced in terms of what
perhaps we can have on our phone elsewhere. That's one
(04:55):
of the issues that we will be consulting with the
industry about over the coming months. It cannot be too
hard to charge a simple fee for international tourists to
see one of the most beautiful places in the country.
What every other country around the world manages to do it.
And anyone who says to me, oh, it's too complicated,
I say, come on, this is pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Really Okay, Now I like the sound of that. Okay,
are you going to fix or change anything about the
surcharge ban as it is right now? Because you cannot
tell me that you are going to do this to
some of your voters months before the election.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
The first thing that I want to fix is I
want small businesses to hear this message, which they didn't
hear I think in some cases. Which is the first
thing that happened was the Commerce Commission regulated what prices
MasterCard and Visa can charge you for your merchant fees
and for your pay services, and they have mandated that
(05:51):
those costs need to reduce significantly by tens of millions,
which will have a cost reduction.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Come on, Nicholas, it's nineteen million dollars it out of
about a billion. It's it's small change. And then add
on to that everything else that gets charged on top
of Visa and MasterCard, the retail banks, it's massive. That
made no difference. What are you going to change because
you cannot do this to small and medium sized businesses.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
It is a significant cost reduction. The second thing is
that we are expecting the Commerce Commission to work with
the banks to provide businesses much more clear, transparent and
easily comparable price information to allow businesses to negotiate with Nikolas.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You will know, Nicola, Come on, if you put this
on on businesses and you force them to absorb this
mid next year, midwinter, just before you go to the election.
You know you're going to lose voters.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You can't do this.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, here's the principled point, which I think is important.
We do know that consumers in New Zealand are currently
paying tens of millions and excess to charges. The Commerce
Commission have done a lot of work on this. We
have a culture in our country which I appreciate as
a consumer, Unlike some countries around the world. The price
you see on the tag is the price you pay
(07:00):
at the till, and you don't get to the till
and then have vat you added this charge and that charge.
And what that does is empowers consumers to know is
cheaper here or down the road. And we don't think
that the merchant payWave schemes are enough of a justification
for changing that long standing practice. Now, individual retailers will
manage this in different ways, but we are confident that
(07:21):
can be managed and that the consumer will win out
of it and that small businesses will adapt.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
All right. Now, on the road Cones tipline, can I
implore you to get rid of this thing? Because it's pointless.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Well, actually, you know Van Velden brought it in for
a reason she sent to her agency.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Come on, you know it does nothing. You know that
all it does is it goes in checks that they've
got as many road cones laid out as the onerous
rules require them to. And it's costing us. What is
it like four hundred thousand dollars to run the thing?
Get rid of it, save the money.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well here's the thing. So as as a government, the
last government was spending seven hundred and eighty six million
dollars on temporary traffic management. We've brought those costs down
massively for our own road projects. But what we've observed
is that a lot of counts around the country haven't
done that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's why Bush's idea is fantastic. Right, So Bush is saying,
if you don't follow the rules and go for fewer cones,
we're worthholding money. But which makes it makes Brooks tip
line just a performance So cut it.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, look, it's belt embraces approach. Here is what I
would describe it as. On the one hand, we are
mandating that for councils that they have to update their
guidance and their approach. And on the other hand, we're
empowering ratepayers that if they see it looking bad, they
can tip us off and gives us a clear basis
on which to follow up.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
All right, Nichola, thanks very much, appreciated. Look after yourself.
That's Nicola Willis, the Finance Minister.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
For more from news Talks, there'd be listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And Nicolaus the Finance Ministers with US Hi, Nicola good Na, Heather?
Do you reckon this?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
On the tariffs? We won't get a better deal?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well? I think there is the possibility that we could,
in particular because the blunt reason why we're facing fifteen
percent is that in the most recent year we had
a trade deficit with the US. We sold them more
than we bought from them. But that has changed year
to year over the past decade, and we could expect
it to change in the future. So the question for
(00:46):
US is if it does change, does that mean we
get better treatment?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So do you think this is something that they are
going to keep revising as we go along?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, I would simply observe that they have continued to
revise their position on tariffs pretty continuously, and so it's
not impossible to imagine that that could continue into.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The But then isn't that something that's going to fluctuate
every single time we go into deficitle super from their
point of view, Look.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I don't know the answer to that, but that's exactly heavily.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is it possible you've being overly hopeful here, because I
mean this seems to me to have been locked in
at a point in time, and now Australia is it's
on ten percent and we sit on fifteen percent, and
I can't imagine that they're going to put the effort
into keeping on changing this every single time every single
country goes into a different position.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
This just means I'm being resolute, which is that we
need to take every opportunity and angle to push the
best case for our exporters, and we do think we
have a strong case. How that will be met by
the US administration is yet to unfold. But if this
is about trade deficits and surpluses and that's a changing position,
then we would hope that the tariff could change.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, So what's our strong case that we're taking to.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Them First, That we have a very balanced and complementary relationship,
that we're a very good and long standing friend of
the US, that our trade is complementary and non threatening,
and that we do expect to be buying quite a
lot from the US in the coming few years, and
that we'd like that reflected in Our.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Tower position is that with the Boeings.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well with our general defense procurement, we've made a big
commitment to building the capability of our defense force across
a number of areas. We y'd expect US manufacturers would
be some of those bidding for the contracts.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Had we thought about possibly removing all the tariffs that
we slap on US goods.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Well, all of those things are potential considerations in a negotiation,
but at this point, we already have incredibly low tariffs
on US goods, so we don't actually have that much
to bring to the table. And that's one of the
points that we've been making. We're not a country that's
been playing fast and loose. We haven't tried to break the.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Rules their footwear. We slap with ten percent.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That's all that low, which is low relative to a
lot of other countries.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We're getting percent, and we're moaning about that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So in terms but overall, in terms of how much
we import from the States, the average tariff rate across
what we actually import large amounts of lower than that.
Heither and our reciprocal tariffs are much lower than they
are and lots of the other countries. So we've got
a good case.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
What about if we because I know that they're apparently
annoyed about our biosecurity regime with some of their exports
imports for US, would we consider having a look at that.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, those are always things that we look at because
we play by the rules, which is we don't use
our biosecurity regime as an excuse for restricting an importation
of products. If it's ever perceived that we are, we're
always prepared to look at it. But this is a
case where anything that we do at our end we
want to lead to advantage for our exporters at the
(03:46):
US end. So those are the issues that our negotiators
will be stepping out.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Why didn't we send Vangelis Vitalis before.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, the very clear indication that we had at the
ministerial level was that we were not on the naughty list,
We weren't on the bad list, and that making efforts
to get negotiation weren't going to be successful because we
simply weren't on the list of people that were at risk.
And as it's played out, really there was an exception
(04:15):
made for Australia based on that blunt assessment that they
export more to the US than they import from the US,
and nothing we negotiated would have changed that.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Blunt fat Now, talk me through these dock charges. How
are we going to do this at for example, let's
say Cathedral Cove.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Well, a lot of people who go to Cathedral Cove
go on a boat as part of a tour group.
So you could envisage that potentially that tour group would
put the charge directly to those people they're putting on
the boat. You could also imagine that for those who
walk in, you could have some sort of a turnstile.
Technology these days is pretty advanced in terms of what
perhaps we can have on our phone elsewhere. That's one
(04:55):
of the issues that we will be consulting with the
industry about over the coming months. It cannot be too
hard to charge a simple fee for international tourists to
see one of the most beautiful places in the country.
What every other country around the world manages to do it.
And anyone who says to me, oh, it's too complicated,
I say, come on, this is pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Really Okay, Now I like the sound of that. Okay,
are you going to fix or change anything about the
surcharge ban as it is right now? Because you cannot
tell me that you are going to do this to
some of your voters months before the election.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
The first thing that I want to fix is I
want small businesses to hear this message, which they didn't
hear I think in some cases. Which is the first
thing that happened was the Commerce Commission regulated what prices
MasterCard and Visa can charge you for your merchant fees
and for your pay services, and they have mandated that
(05:51):
those costs need to reduce significantly by tens of millions,
which will have a cost reduction.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Come on, Nicholas, it's nineteen million dollars it out of
about a billion. It's it's small change. And then add
on to that everything else that gets charged on top
of Visa and MasterCard, the retail banks, it's massive. That
made no difference. What are you going to change because
you cannot do this to small and medium sized businesses.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
It is a significant cost reduction. The second thing is
that we are expecting the Commerce Commission to work with
the banks to provide businesses much more clear, transparent and
easily comparable price information to allow businesses to negotiate with Nikolas.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You will know, Nicola, Come on, if you put this
on on businesses and you force them to absorb this
mid next year, midwinter, just before you go to the election.
You know you're going to lose voters.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You can't do this.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, here's the principled point, which I think is important.
We do know that consumers in New Zealand are currently
paying tens of millions and excess to charges. The Commerce
Commission have done a lot of work on this. We
have a culture in our country which I appreciate as
a consumer, Unlike some countries around the world. The price
you see on the tag is the price you pay
(07:00):
at the till, and you don't get to the till
and then have vat you added this charge and that charge.
And what that does is empowers consumers to know is
cheaper here or down the road. And we don't think
that the merchant payWave schemes are enough of a justification
for changing that long standing practice. Now, individual retailers will
manage this in different ways, but we are confident that
(07:21):
can be managed and that the consumer will win out
of it and that small businesses will adapt.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
All right. Now, on the road Cones tipline, can I
implore you to get rid of this thing? Because it's pointless.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Well, actually, you know Van Velden brought it in for
a reason she sent to her agency.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Come on, you know it does nothing. You know that
all it does is it goes in checks that they've
got as many road cones laid out as the onerous
rules require them to. And it's costing us. What is
it like four hundred thousand dollars to run the thing?
Get rid of it, save the money.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Well here's the thing. So as as a government, the
last government was spending seven hundred and eighty six million
dollars on temporary traffic management. We've brought those costs down
massively for our own road projects. But what we've observed
is that a lot of counts around the country haven't
done that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's why Bush's idea is fantastic. Right, So Bush is saying,
if you don't follow the rules and go for fewer cones,
we're worthholding money. But which makes it makes Brooks tip
line just a performance So cut it.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, look, it's belt embraces approach. Here is what I
would describe it as. On the one hand, we are
mandating that for councils that they have to update their
guidance and their approach. And on the other hand, we're
empowering ratepayers that if they see it looking bad, they
can tip us off and gives us a clear basis
on which to follow up.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
All right, Nichola, thanks very much, appreciated. Look after yourself.
That's Nicola Willis, the Finance Minister.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
For more from news Talks, there'd be listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!