01 March 2005

The US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently released a report recommending that New Zealand should be considered for a free trade agreement (FTA) along with four other countries.

NAM’s criteria for this status included countries that import more than US$1 billion of US manufactured goods annually, tariff barrier levels, and the transparency of judicial processes.

The organization identified India, Egypt, Malaysia and South Korea for free trade status along with New Zealand. NAM's report says New Zealand was the second smallest importer of US goods on the list but had the most open and least regulated markets.

"These factors imply a relative easy FTA negotiation, as New Zealand already has in place most of the factors that would be sought in an FTA," the report states. New Zealand already has a tariff regime that was four times lower than it could enforce legally.

NAM forecasts a 50% increase in US manufactured goods imported into New Zealand before 2010, increasing to 62% if a FTA eliminated all tariffs.

or more information:
www.usnzcouncil.org/media.htm