Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
28 OCTOBER 2015

Key Can’t Cut EU Deal as TPPA Truth Emerges

As the Prime Minister tries to distract with talk of a European Union free trade deal, New Zealand First warns that wording of the TPPA may further water that deal down.

“US legislators are growing uneasy over the lack of details on the TPPA and we should too, given it was supposedly a ‘done deal’ 22 days ago,” says New Zealand First Leader and Member of Parliament for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Since Trade Minister Tim Groser blew his TPPA trumpet, Stephen Harper and his party are no longer running Canada. We can add that the TPPA is still being drafted by the so-called ‘experts’. It then has to be translated into Spanish and French before legal checks.

“How can we take talk of a deal with the European Union seriously, when TPPA details continue to dribble out? The latest from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries only goes to prove that the joke is on us.

“On dairy we went into the TPPA talking like Charles Atlas, but ended up negotiating like the 70-pound weakling.

“Japan is opening up its domestic market to just 3,188 tons of butter and skim milk powder. It will take five years before it reaches 3,719 tons in each category, which is a pathetically small volume.

“With butter and skim milk powder, the Japanese market will see New Zealand, the US, Canada and Australia, fight it out for a ‘prize’ that’s only slightly heavier than one Olympic-sized pool in each category.

“We thought it was hard to top the South Korea deal, but according to the Japanese, we’ve agreed that tariffs will remain. It will not be lost on the EU, or our farmers, that instead of fighting tariffs, subsidies and quotas, New Zealand now legitimises them.

“It should also prove to the media and commentariat that the devil is always in the detail,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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