National leader Christopher Luxon, who is touring the top of the South Island today, announced the party's Boosting Growth Through Trade policy alongside the party's Trade spokesperson Todd McClay at Forrest Wines in Renwick on Tuesday afternoon.
The party promised:
- To target a doubling of export value within 10 years, including from agriculture, forestry, services, international education, technology, and tourism
- To aggressively pursue quality free trade agreements
- To turbocharge the primary sector by reducing barriers to trade
- To conduct a record number of trade missions
- To make India a strategic priority for increased trade and investment
- To support strengthening the world trade organisation (WTO)
National's policy document highlighted free trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates), free trade with the Pacific Alliance (Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile), and an economic agreement with UAE as priorities in its first term.
The party's promise for "more trade missions than any previous New Zealand government" included a plan to visit Australia, China, the EU, GCC countries, India, Japan, Pacific Alliance countries, Southeast Asian nations, the UAE and the USA.
It said it would regularly report on progress towards the doubling of export value promise, protect exports by targeting non-tariff barriers to trade, and use WTO rules and legal instruments in trade agreements to ensure obligations were honoured.
The policy said the WTO's importance for New Zealand's trade and exports could not be overstated, and said National would work "on a bipartisan basis to strengthen the WTO and ultimately support better outcomes for New Zealanders".
"Right now New Zealand has a $16 billion trade deficit and the second worst current account deficit in the developed world relative to GDP, behind only Greece," Luxon said.
"A National government will work tirelessly to promote New Zealand exports and dismantle trade barriers that make it difficult for New Zealanders to sell their high-quality produce, goods and services overseas."
He said looking at two-way trade with China of just under $40b, "it's clear that we are almost chronically under-trading in India".
"The problem is this: During the Covid period, the Australians managed to negotiate and early harvest free trade agreement. The Brits, the Canadians and the Europeans have done similarly, and we haven't even picked up the phone, managed those relationships because we've been so internally myopically focused over the last six years."
He said New Zealand needed to hustle and have some confidence, but had lost ground in the past six years against the other countries in the world.
"The government can help open up those doors and businesses then need to step in and convert it, that's what we need to do."
Asked about the prospect of bargaining with India however, Luxon said "we appreciate it's difficult but ... we're going to do everything we can to get as much value out of that relationship as we possibly can".
He said it was a mindset issue, and the Labour government had not "had that hustling mindset".
Christopher Luxon is visiting a dairy and a winery during his trip to the top of the South Island today. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel
The campaign today has been centred on the fiscal plans of both major parties with each accusing the other of inaccurate costings.
Labour finance spokesperson Grant Robertson said in a media release that National would need an extra $800 million a year more in cuts than National predicted - a total of $3.1 billion a year, translating to about 6000 job losses nationwide - to make its tax plan add up.
National finance spokesperson Nicola Willis hit back saying Labour were "desperate", their dental policy was woefully undercosted and the party had a proven track record of overspending its budget allowances.
Luxon said in comparing the two "that we are going to be very very good, and good for this country, in managing our books".
He said Labour was wrong to say National would need $3.1b worth of cuts every year to make its tax plan add up.
"Our independent reviewers have said our assumptions are very prudent, and more importantly what we've also done is we've built in buffer within our tax plan but also within our broader fiscal plan as well."
Asked to rule out an increase in cuts to that $3.1b level, he said "yes, absolutely, it's off the table", however he earlier did not answer directly when asked whether he would rule out higher cuts than the 6.5 percent across the sector National had put forward.
"I'm guaranteeing to you that we're not going to hire 13,000 more public servants, spend almost $2b on consultants and contractor fees, and deliver worse waiting lists at hospitals, worse education outcomes for our kids, and a failing economy. That's not gonna happen under us," he said.
He said Labour leader Chris Hipkins was being dishonest to say Labour's policy was for free dental care for under-30s, "and then today it's quite obvious it's not going to be free dental care, under-30s are going to be paying thousands of dollars for their dental care".
"He's the prime minister but actually he's the prime misinformer, and he's continuing his campaign of misinformation."
Asked about the prospect of a second election, which National itself has been raising, Luxon stumbled over his words.
"I don't think that will be a pr- it's a- I will be saying is under MMP elections there's uncertainty, but what New Zealanders cannot tolerate is another three years of a government that has chronically underdelivered for them."