Will Labour oppose the China FTA upgrade?
Stuff reports:
China will allow dairy to remain on the table as it progresses talks with New Zealand over an upgrade to an existing free-trade agreement.
But it’s not yet promising that formal re-negotiations will begin over an eight-year-old pact that the government would argue has fallen victim to its own success.
Prime Minister John Key met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing overnight (NZ time), and said he left the meeting more optimistic than when he went into it, about China’s willingness to progress free-trade talks.
If an upgrade to the China FTA is negotiated, will Labour oppose it?
Once upon a time this would have been a ridiculous question to ask, especially as they negotiated the China FTA.
But consider these two points:
- Labour now regularly rails against the Chinese – everything from investing in a farm to buying a house to being an Chinese chef
- The initiated the TPP agreement in Government yet denounced it in opposition
Greens and NZ First both opposed the FTA with China. Labour’s policy has been getting closer and closer to the Greens, so it is not impossible they’ll oppose any upgrade to the China FTA purely because it may happen under National.