Catherine Beard: Business NZ Advocacy Director on the potential impact of US tariffs on NZ exporters

New Zealand remains in the dark about Donald Trump's tariff plan, as new data shows the US has overtaken Australia as our second largest destination for exported goods. 

Business NZ Advocacy Director Catherine Beard told Andrew Dickens blanket tariffs wouldn't have the same impact as targeted tariffs. 

She says it would mean the cost will be passed on to the US consumer rather than having to be absorbed by exporters, and we would still be competitive against other markets. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Time for the second good news story of the day.
The US is our second largest export market. It overtook Australia.
China is now number one. Katherine Beard joins me now.
She is the advocacy director for Export New Zealand. How
are Catherine?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
So what drove it up? What spiked it over Australia?
What's working? What are we selling?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Look? A lot of it's been driven actually by beef exports,
and that beef has been used in hamburger patties and
what seems to be really well received as the grass
fed New Zealand beef. And I think they mix it
with grain feed USA beef, so they get the fat
from the US beef and the nice lean beef from

(00:43):
New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
That is very good. I love a good New Zealand beef. Now,
is this rise in US exports balancing out the lack
of demand in China as their economy stagmtes a little bit?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Look at it's definitely helping China's you know, hugely important
to New Zealand. But what is remarkable about the US
skiing into the number two spot for our exports is
we don't actually have a free trade agreement with the
United States. So it just goes to show that it's
actually a very open market and while there are some tariffs,

(01:20):
you know, they're not high enough to be you know,
preventing that trade happening. I think the key WE dollar
is probably helping as well, and that it's quite low
versus the US dollars, so that's going to make our
beef you know, quite affordable.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
But if we're hoping for a free traded agreement, if
we're hoping for a better market to go to, the
chances of that happening are very low under the current
administration in the United States of America. So what challenges
will that provide?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, that's right. So the big challenge in worry that
I think a lot of countries have and everybody's watching
it closely, is what the United States will do with
regard to tariff So we're definitely keeping an eye on that.
If the United States puts on blanket tariffs for all imports,

(02:09):
then that wouldn't be so bad for US because we'd
still be competitive. I mean, it means everybody's being taxed
at the same rate essentially, so yet that cost would
then fall on the USA consumer. But we would still
be competitive, so we just have to watch and wait
and see. Our trade balance with the United States is
quite even, so you know, we important export about the same.

(02:34):
You know, it's not hugely different in terms of value.
So I can't really see New Zealand being picked out.
So let's just let's just keep our fingers crossed.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Execurators, when you have an excess and when you have
an imbalance, that's when you get picked upon. And Katherinbird,
congratulations and I thank you for your time today, the
advocacy director for Export New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
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