The Herald reports:
Trade Minister David Parker is accusing the European Union of agricultural protectionism and questioning whether the trading bloc is committed to completing a free-trade deal.
Over the weekend European trade publications revealed details of what they said were being offered by European Union trade negotiators to New Zealand officials for dairy quotas under a possible free-trade agreement.
Although details of the offer are unclear, one commentator said it included tariff rate quotas for 15,000 tonnes of cheese over a decade.
Parker, speaking at a trade event in Wellington on Monday, was scathing, describing the offer as “paltry”. …
Parker said in 2019 the EU exported the equivalent of just under 1kg of cheese to New Zealand for every New Zealander, tariff free.
In contrast, the offer the EU had put on the table would allow New Zealand to export the equivalent of about three grams of cheese for every European Union citizen annually and “even then it’s subject to volume restrictions and highly prohibitive tariffs,” Parker said.
I never expected the EU to offer us anything near a decent agreement. They are hugely protectionistic.
