May 25, 2018 1:00pm by David Farrar

EU agrees to commence FTA negotiations

A lucrative free trade deal with the European Union is taking the next step after the European Union agreed to launch formal negotiations with New Zealand and Australia.

A deal with the EU is considered one of the holy grails for New Zealand – potentially worth billions of dollars.

Trade Minister David Parker said a deal with the EU would be “very, very significant”. The talks open the way for a free trade deal with one of the largest economies in the world.

This is very welcome.

However we should be realistic that the EU is in fact quite protectionist with huge agriculture subsidies and quotas and we are not going to get a pure FTA which will simply allow us to sell whatever we want to whomever wants to buy it.