The United States has put a 12.5 percent tariff on goods coming from New Zealand. That replaces an earlier 10 percent rate. The new tariff is part of a wider regime covering 60 countries, and it takes effect after 4pm on the Friday following the announcement, according to RNZ.

A tariff is a tax a government puts on goods coming into the country. In this case, it means New Zealand exporters have to pay extra when their products cross the US border.

The story goes back to February 2026, when the US put a temporary 10 percent tariff in place for 150 days. That was a stopgap after the US Supreme Court ruled the earlier "Liberation Day" tariffs illegal. The temporary tariff was meant to hold things over while the US worked out a new system.

In March 2026, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, known as USTR, began investigations into 60 trading partners over forced labour. New Zealand was one of the countries investigated. USTR held hearings on 28 April 2026 and released its findings in June 2026, initially proposing a 10 percent tariff. The final regime applies 12.5 percent to 45 of the 60 countries investigated, with rates ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent, as Reuters reported.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the new tariffs were designed to combat imports made with forced labour. New Zealand has rejected the US claim that its exports involve forced labour, and that position has not changed.

The process moved quickly. USTR proposed a 10 percent rate in June; the final New Zealand rate came in at 12.5 percent. The part of the USTR report covering New Zealand has not been backed by any public evidence of forced-labour violations in New Zealand. The gap between the proposed 10 percent and the final 12.5 percent has not been explained by USTR. New Zealand sits in the higher tier alongside 44 other countries, while 15 countries face the lower 10 percent rate.

To get a sense of the scale: US goods and services trade with New Zealand totalled about US$16.6 billion in 2024, according to USTR figures. The higher tariff adds cost at the border for exporters who were already dealing with the temporary surcharge.

The legal basis matters. The new tariffs use a US law called Section 301, which lets USTR investigate and respond to trade practices it considers unfair. This is a different legal basis from the earlier "Liberation Day" tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down. The investigations followed a formal process — initiation, public hearings, findings, and proposed action — documented across USTR releases from March through June 2026.

For New Zealand exporters, the challenge is immediate. The 12.5 percent rate applies to everything, not just specific products, and it takes effect within days. The Government's rejection of the forced-labour claim has not changed the outcome. The broader picture is that the temporary surcharge from February has now been replaced by a permanent regime. Without a deal between the two countries or a legal challenge, New Zealand exports to the US will carry the higher rate for the foreseeable future.