December 22, 2025 • 6 mins
The Trade Minister claims our new Free Trade Agreement with India, is its best deal struck with any country.
It's followed nine months of negotiations, ending with India agreeing to lower or remove tariffs on 95-percent of our exports, with wins for fruit, meat, wool, coal and forestry sectors.
Little's changed for dairy - with duty free access only for certain protein products and those for re-export.
Todd McClay told Andrew Dickens that all our exporters will benefit.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So the government has done it. They promise us a
fair trade agreement with India in their first term and
it's happened. Under the deal, eighty two percent of exports
to India will be duty free, with over half beginning
on day one. Notably, the deal four is short of
a major win for the dairy sector, the most valuable
though being duty free export or bulk infant formula. So
joining us right now is Tom McLay who's been back
(00:39):
and forth from India a lot and is our trade minister.
Good morning to you, Todd Andy, Good morning, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Who are the big winners?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, look, I think across the board all New Zealanders
are and everybody in the economy does very well out
of this. In particular as a couple of highlight sheep
meat is going to be a big winner. They face
a thirty three percent tariff which goes to Zera on
day one. You might have seen we did a bit
of research before Australia got their FDA. New Zealand sold
about eighty nine percent of or eighty nine percent of
(01:10):
all the important sheet me that India came from New Zealand.
Since then, it's dropped to about eight to nine percent
Australians in the nineties. So we can left all the
playing field. But across the board there are gains for everybody,
albeit in some areas modest where we think there's a
bit more work to do over time.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Where's the real hangar in India? I mean, I know
we've got duty free axious for our fruit and vegetables.
Are they hot on fruit and vegetables? We've got duty
free axious for iron, steel and scrap at a medium
Are they hot?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What are the areas that they are hot on?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So if you think about India has very very high
teriff rates. Wine as exaples is one hundred and fifty
percent tariff weight rate. So the southern New Zealand wine
and there are a ten dollars bottle of wine cost
you twenty five dollars in the poor old wine grown
New Zealand doesn't give me an extra So we've been
able to get that down. Wherever you have high teriff rates,
when those lower, generally what we see is a lot
(01:59):
more trades start to go to flourish. So I think
we're going to see across our exports a lot of
gain over the next couple of years. But in particular
the answer is everything, because you know, India produces a
lot for themselves. There's four hundred million people who have
you know, a middle class grows about seven hundred million
people over the next five or six years. What we
(02:20):
know is then they want to look to the world
and buy the things others consume. And so I think
that we're going to look back in sort of a
decade time at this announcement and just see nothing but
good news.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, what do export us need to know to actually
capitalize on this new access? What we need to know
about the Indian market that we currently don't know and
we're not doing.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, it's very interesting. It's a tough place to do business,
just because you know, every country has a different way
of doing things. When I first visited maybe fifteen years ago,
you know, it was enjoyable, was loud, it was chaotic.
You get back there now they've got the head down
and the working hard. They're building more universities every year
than anyone else in the world, are constructing roads. You know,
(03:01):
the economy really is starting the pump and with that,
of course kind of a big opportunity, and particularly around consumers.
We will be leading a number of trade missions up there.
The government already is putting more effort. We're bolstering our
diplomatic presence. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise will be looking
to see how they can put more people in the
market to help KIWIS. But inevitably it comes down to
a relationship and one of the real reasons we're able
(03:23):
to get this deal done in two years, although it
was nine months of negotiation, a relationship. Both sides have
worked very hard to get to know each other. We've
grown a lot of respect. We've been able to land
a deal that we view as good for both sides.
So Key is going to have to get up in
the market and grow those long term, sustainable relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So there's two sides to every deal. Sure, it's great
for us, What do India get in return?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, Well, two things. The first is it's one of
the highest quality trade agreements that they've done, and particularly
around the rules, it's very similar to what we did
with China more than twenty years ago. It's a very
high quality agreement, one of the best that they've done.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But what does India get, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What I was going to say is I think they
use this as a formula go into deals with other
nations now the European Union negotiating with some of the
things we have done on that. Firstly, Secondly, they get
access to our market, so we drop tari phrase to
zero on day one. Although we're only five million people,
we buy almost twenty billion dollars worth of goods and
service from China, so they want to compete with that.
(04:22):
And then what we've also done is we've looked at
parts of the New Zealand economy that we need skills
and and we've agreed a very small number of Indian
nationals that could come in or a limited three year
visa under New Zealand immigration conditions and come and help,
you know, in healthcare, in engineering and so on. And
that we think is going to help our economy grow
(04:44):
in areas where we don't have the skills we need
for short periods of time.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Okay, So the thing with the FDA with India, it's
always been hard to get across, and it's always been
because of cows and immigration and I see that, you'll mate,
Winston Peters has come straight out and poop pood the
whole thing. And I presume, and I'm going to find
out from Winston after the seven to thirty news, I
presume it's because he's worried that there'll be excessive immigration.
Did you give away too much?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
We did? And look, I've got a lot of respect
for Winston, but he's absolutely categorically wrong. In those one thousand,
six hundred and sixty seven people from India each year
who are skilled national doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, ict professionals
are able to come here for a three year limited
visa under the conditions of New Zealand sets. If we
don't need teachers, example, we can change that around. They
(05:31):
will come from the list of people that are already
probably coming and three years only, non renewable, no right
to reside, You're no right to live here. Can't you
know that it doesn't give any guarantees about their families
or anything coming like that. And these are people that
we need in our economy. We find them from all
around the world. So it's not a large number of
people when you consider in fact, about three percent of
(05:53):
all the skilled visas we can come into New Zealand
every year. So look, I get that there will be
some people out there think we should have got more
than the others that said, you know, we might have
given too much away. One point four billion people we
now will have access to and this is the best
trade deal that India has done with anybody in the world.
I think is going to be good for.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yourse other Todd mcfai, Traig Minister, I thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For more from News Talks at b 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 Talk ZEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So the government has done it. They promise us a
fair trade agreement with India in their first term and
it's happened. Under the deal, eighty two percent of exports
to India will be duty free, with over half beginning
on day one. Notably, the deal four is short of
a major win for the dairy sector, the most valuable
though being duty free export or bulk infant formula. So
joining us right now is Tom McLay who's been back
(00:39):
and forth from India a lot and is our trade minister.
Good morning to you, Todd Andy, Good morning, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Who are the big winners?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, look, I think across the board all New Zealanders
are and everybody in the economy does very well out
of this. In particular as a couple of highlight sheep
meat is going to be a big winner. They face
a thirty three percent tariff which goes to Zera on
day one. You might have seen we did a bit
of research before Australia got their FDA. New Zealand sold
about eighty nine percent of or eighty nine percent of
(01:10):
all the important sheet me that India came from New Zealand.
Since then, it's dropped to about eight to nine percent
Australians in the nineties. So we can left all the
playing field. But across the board there are gains for everybody,
albeit in some areas modest where we think there's a
bit more work to do over time.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Where's the real hangar in India? I mean, I know
we've got duty free axious for our fruit and vegetables.
Are they hot on fruit and vegetables? We've got duty
free axious for iron, steel and scrap at a medium
Are they hot?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What are the areas that they are hot on?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So if you think about India has very very high
teriff rates. Wine as exaples is one hundred and fifty
percent tariff weight rate. So the southern New Zealand wine
and there are a ten dollars bottle of wine cost
you twenty five dollars in the poor old wine grown
New Zealand doesn't give me an extra So we've been
able to get that down. Wherever you have high teriff rates,
when those lower, generally what we see is a lot
(01:59):
more trades start to go to flourish. So I think
we're going to see across our exports a lot of
gain over the next couple of years. But in particular
the answer is everything, because you know, India produces a
lot for themselves. There's four hundred million people who have
you know, a middle class grows about seven hundred million
people over the next five or six years. What we
(02:20):
know is then they want to look to the world
and buy the things others consume. And so I think
that we're going to look back in sort of a
decade time at this announcement and just see nothing but
good news.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, what do export us need to know to actually
capitalize on this new access? What we need to know
about the Indian market that we currently don't know and
we're not doing.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, it's very interesting. It's a tough place to do business,
just because you know, every country has a different way
of doing things. When I first visited maybe fifteen years ago,
you know, it was enjoyable, was loud, it was chaotic.
You get back there now they've got the head down
and the working hard. They're building more universities every year
than anyone else in the world, are constructing roads. You know,
(03:01):
the economy really is starting the pump and with that,
of course kind of a big opportunity, and particularly around consumers.
We will be leading a number of trade missions up there.
The government already is putting more effort. We're bolstering our
diplomatic presence. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise will be looking
to see how they can put more people in the
market to help KIWIS. But inevitably it comes down to
a relationship and one of the real reasons we're able
(03:23):
to get this deal done in two years, although it
was nine months of negotiation, a relationship. Both sides have
worked very hard to get to know each other. We've
grown a lot of respect. We've been able to land
a deal that we view as good for both sides.
So Key is going to have to get up in
the market and grow those long term, sustainable relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So there's two sides to every deal. Sure, it's great
for us, What do India get in return?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, Well, two things. The first is it's one of
the highest quality trade agreements that they've done, and particularly
around the rules, it's very similar to what we did
with China more than twenty years ago. It's a very
high quality agreement, one of the best that they've done.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But what does India get, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What I was going to say is I think they
use this as a formula go into deals with other
nations now the European Union negotiating with some of the
things we have done on that. Firstly, Secondly, they get
access to our market, so we drop tari phrase to
zero on day one. Although we're only five million people,
we buy almost twenty billion dollars worth of goods and
service from China, so they want to compete with that.
(04:22):
And then what we've also done is we've looked at
parts of the New Zealand economy that we need skills
and and we've agreed a very small number of Indian
nationals that could come in or a limited three year
visa under New Zealand immigration conditions and come and help,
you know, in healthcare, in engineering and so on. And
that we think is going to help our economy grow
(04:44):
in areas where we don't have the skills we need
for short periods of time.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Okay, So the thing with the FDA with India, it's
always been hard to get across, and it's always been
because of cows and immigration and I see that, you'll mate,
Winston Peters has come straight out and poop pood the
whole thing. And I presume, and I'm going to find
out from Winston after the seven to thirty news, I
presume it's because he's worried that there'll be excessive immigration.
Did you give away too much?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
We did? And look, I've got a lot of respect
for Winston, but he's absolutely categorically wrong. In those one thousand,
six hundred and sixty seven people from India each year
who are skilled national doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, ict professionals
are able to come here for a three year limited
visa under the conditions of New Zealand sets. If we
don't need teachers, example, we can change that around. They
(05:31):
will come from the list of people that are already
probably coming and three years only, non renewable, no right
to reside, You're no right to live here. Can't you
know that it doesn't give any guarantees about their families
or anything coming like that. And these are people that
we need in our economy. We find them from all
around the world. So it's not a large number of
people when you consider in fact, about three percent of
(05:53):
all the skilled visas we can come into New Zealand
every year. So look, I get that there will be
some people out there think we should have got more
than the others that said, you know, we might have
given too much away. One point four billion people we
now will have access to and this is the best
trade deal that India has done with anybody in the world.
I think is going to be good for.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yourse other Todd mcfai, Traig Minister, I thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
For more from News Talks at b Listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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