National promises to sign trade deals with seven countries in five years

Todd McClay, National's trade spokesperson, announced the party would push for free trade agreements with seven countries and one trading bloc within five years if it won the 2023 election. He made the announcement at the Port of Auckland.

The countries are Brazil, Switzerland, Argentina, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Uruguay, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — which is made up of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. That's eight countries when you count them individually, spread across four continents.

McClay chose the port as the backdrop on purpose. The message was straightforward: a National government would treat trade deals as a top priority, not something to leave to officials in the background.

National also plans to negotiate what McClay called "essential supplies agreements." These would work like a deal New Zealand already has with Singapore: Singapore gives New Zealand stable fuel supplies, and New Zealand sends food in return. McClay said he wanted to use this model after supply problems around the Strait of Hormuz made global fuel harder to get. This type of agreement would be narrower and faster than a standard free trade deal — focused on keeping supplies safe rather than cutting tariffs across whole industries.

Seven new trade deals in one term of government is an ambitious target. Most free trade negotiations take years, even when both countries want to do it. New Zealand's deal with the European Union took more than a decade. Doing seven at the same time would need the government to negotiate with multiple countries at once and hire more trade negotiators.

The choice of countries reflects different reasons. Brazil and Argentina are two of the largest economies in South America's main trade bloc, Mercosur. New Zealand has wanted to sell more beef and dairy there, but South American countries have put up high barriers to protect their own farmers. Doing separate deals with individual countries rather than waiting for one big deal with the whole bloc would be a change in strategy. Bangladesh and Nigeria are growing markets where New Zealand companies that sell education and farm technology think they can do well. Switzerland and EFTA are simpler options — wealthy countries with rules-based markets where New Zealand doesn't have a trade deal yet, and where selling things like lamb and dairy still faces some barriers.

According to RNZ, this was a campaign promise made before the 2023 election. The actual question of whether National, after winning, has started work on any of these deals is separate.

The "essential supplies" idea is the part most likely to matter inside government and business. Trade deals have usually been big, comprehensive agreements covering many industries. A smaller track focused just on keeping supplies safe would be new. How government would set these up, what checks Parliament would have on them, and whether they fit with global trade rules are details the announcement didn't explain.

McClay set the five-year target to match a single term in government. That gives the promise enough time to be believable, but keeps it short enough that voters can judge whether National delivered before the next election.