Todd McClay: Trade Minister outlines the costs of Trump's tariffs for New Zealand

The Trade Minister is laying bare the cost of Donald Trump's tariffs for New Zealand. 

The US President is imposing 25 percent tariffs for all steel and aluminium imports - and says there'll be no exceptions.

Todd McClay says that's not surprising, following similar moves by Trump in his first term.

He says it won't significantly impact us, especially compared to exports like beef and wine. 

"For New Zealand exporters, we will face about an extra $5 million of tariffs - plus or minus - that's on about $150 million total of exports."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right, and Bridge Rich, Let's talk about how Trump's new
tariffs are going to affect us here down under. And
as we've been talking about, he's putting a blanket twenty
five percent tariff on all steel and aluminium entering the
United States. New Zealand exported about seventy million dollars worth
of aluminium and eighty eight million dollars worth of iron
and steel to the States in twenty twenty three. President

(00:21):
says the new tariffs will be a good thing for
American consumers.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're going to ultimately have a press reduction because they're
going to make their steal here.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
There's not going to be any tariff. These foreign companies
will move to the United States, will make their steal
and aluminum in the United States ultimately little bit cheaper.
But we'll also have jobs, many many more jobs.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Topic clays Trade and Investment Ministries with US now, Minister
Good evening, Ryan, Good evening.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
So how bad is this for US?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, it's not at all surprising. And I think I
probably said that when I was on the show last week,
and the reason for that is when President Trump came
to offers last time, he focused on stealing aluminium and
They have particular concerns around the so called steel about
there where they have a lot of manufacturing, and they
are viewing this unfair competition. So for New Zealand exporters,

(01:12):
we will face about an extra five million dollars of
tariffs plus or minus. That's on about one hundred and
fifty million dollars total of exports. So it's not significant,
particularly compared to the amount of beef and wine and
other things we sell to them. But we are going
to take a little bit of time to have a
good look that fully understand it, and then I'll get

(01:32):
a bit of device on whether we should approach the
US to seek an exemption, as I see some other countries,
including Australia, are considering doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
You haven't done that already, Well, we haven't.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
No, we haven't because the well, because the announcement has
just come out doing the Astralia.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
And they had a cool Albanezi had a call with
Trump ahead of the announcement.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah. So I think if you look at the amount
of steel that the the Australians sell to the US
compared to US, it's a much larger and more significant
part of their trade. So it's not that we're going slow.
It's just that we're talking about five million dollars worth
of tariffs, and actually I want to have a ready
good understanding of that compared to the many other things

(02:17):
we sell them before.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
And I understand it did come on the program.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
The first thing you said was it was not surprising
that it was coming, and you said last time it
was coming. I just assumed you would have done some
work in the meantime. Do you know what implications it
might have for t why point.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, actually, we have done a lot of work as
opposed to not doing it in the meantime, We've done
a lot of work on us. But I'm saying to
you it's five million dollars worth of additional tariffs compared
to you know, the billions of dollars we're selling the mouseware.
So we need to one, you know, take that into account.
And then secondly, what we also need to do is,
you know, look at the overall approach. You asked about

(02:51):
ty points. It is going to have some effect upon them.
Although very interestingly, when President Trump puts tariffs on aluminium
last time, there was a lot of conversation, particularly with
the company that owns that with the US because of
the quality of the alum minium. It's very high quality.
They don't get it from any other places, and so
one of the things we need to do is talk
to the owners of that company about exactly their approach

(03:14):
to this to make sure that we're not jumping ahead.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
But yeah, it's high it's high quality aluminium and it's
often used for the defense industry, for which there are
a few other suppliers. So that's why they were given
an exemption last time. But you're saying you haven't even
spoken to t y point yet.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
What I'm saying to what I'm saying to is the
announcement was a few hours ago and we're.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Talking you know it was coming, remember, minister.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
And we're talking about five million dollars of additional tariffs
to give you an example, to give you an example
of that. You know, by comparison to the amount of
aluminum we sell them, we sell them one hundred and
twenty million dollars worth of pet food up there. So
let's keep it in context. Yes, there will be a
cost to New Zealand as a result of this, but
it is not significant in companion and comparison to the

(03:56):
many other things that we sell them. So we haven't
had enoughpportunity to talk to the US yet because it's
just been announced. We will take a little bit of
time to consider the impact upon US and actually exactly
what we write to talk to the US about for
that company.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Absolutely, I'm sure, I'm sure is a significant number for
the likes of T y Point. It's really targeted at
subsidies for steel in China. Does China dump steel?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
I don't have a view of what they do in
the US market, what about how much they doated xen
although they have being investigations in the past in that
area and the Commerce Ministry responsible that has provide information
to successive governments that that is not the case. But
we do have the ability to look at that where
you know players in our market, I think there's harms
being done. Just when to come back to your point,

(04:41):
you said you think that that is significant for a
T y Point. You know, five million dollars is important
to any company, but the amount that they export all
over the world by comparison to five million dollars in
additional tariffs is something we want to have a better
understanding of with them.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Tom McClay really appreciate your time, Trade and Investment Minister.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
For more from head the Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
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