John Weekes: Senior Business Journalist on what Trump's tariff increase means for NZ

US President Donald Trump has announced an increase to the current 10% tariff on NZ goods.

As of today, the President has raised these tariffs to 15%, leaving exporters concerned about their businesses.

President Trump says that this increase is a 'reciprocal' tariff. Senior Business Journalist John Weekes says that this comment has left confusion, as New Zealand does not impose tariffs on US products.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks edb Follow
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Speaker 2 (00:17):
News Talks edb Inn in studio is New Zealand Herald's
Business senior journalist John weekskad I, John.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Good day guys.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Now, finally we have a tariff announcement up from the
original ten percent to fifteen percent. What reaction has there
been so far, John, in the last half hour since
that happened.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Well, most probably a fair amount of disappointment, particularly from exporters.
So if you're trying to export wine or beef or
lamb to the United States, you might have some concerns.
The good news for beef exporters is that the USA
actually has a much smaller herd of cattle beasts than
it had in the not so distant past, so they

(00:54):
can't just manufacture a whole lot of beef to replace
New Zealand exports. I spoke to Darren Gibbs, Westpac senior economist,
and he said, actually, despite that ten percent that we'd
been hearing about a lot, Trump had been indicating that
fifteen percent was more likely. It's the thing that Trump

(01:15):
calls a reciprocal tariff. But it's actually an interesting use
of language because we don't impose tariffs in the United States,
but the Trump administration has assessed the value of non
tariff barriers as being that amount, and so some countries,
he says, some countries manipulate the currency or dump a

(01:36):
lot of goods, so they may as well be comprising tariffs.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
And therefore what crimes are weak committed to be fifteen
percent because as Australia looks like they got away with
ten percent.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Australia got ten, the Falkland Islands got ten, where some
people will be scratching their heads about. I asked Gibbs
similar question. You know, what what have we done to
deserve this, you might say, and he said, the reality
is Australia and the United Kingdom are being rewarded for
their very close political and military ties worth the US.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
We just opened an FBI based buddy, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, yeah, maybe Trump decided fifteen percent before hearing about
the new FBI and bays Gibbs he sort of equipped that,
you know, if we let the US nuclear powered ships
into harbor as we might get ten. But basically he's
saying that the close strategic partnership with Australia and the
United Kingdom is why they're getting a ten percent baseline tariff.

(02:33):
But I mean you can't just look at that number
because Brazil, I believe had ten percent, but they are
likely to get stung on a lot of specific products
that they exports. So the President of the United States
still might choose to impose heavy tariffs on I and
steal other commodity exports.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, rightly combative with the US as well as Brazil.
But there you go. Fifteen is what it is. Just
get on with it.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, absolutely, John, thank you very much, as always, have
a nice week. He will catch you again soon. That
is John Weeks, senior business journalist for The Herald.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
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