Not long ago, the notion that New Zealand's food exporters might get preferential market access to the Japanese economy would have been considered fanciful. But president Trump's withdrawal of his country from what is now the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership) has created that very scenario.
Japan, along with Australia and New Zealand, filled the vacuum created by the US, continuing to make the case for a viable partnership between the 11 remaining parties to the agreement: Canada, Peru, Mexico, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Chile.
This is good news for the Japan-NZ bilateral trade relationship, which has been relatively inert in terms of its development, relative to its potential growth and what might be achieved.
Japan's status as the only Asian nation with whom New Zealand does not have a free trade agreement is about to change, and big time.
The economic importance of this is significant, especially in the four economies with which NZ does not already have free trade arrangements: Japan as well as Canada, Mexico and Peru.
Taken together that's over $4 billion of trade in goods, ($3 billion for Japan) and over $1 billion trade in services (just under $900 million for Japan).
As described on nzherald.co.nz, tariffs will be reduced or eliminated on New Zealand's key exports to Japan including dairy, meat, horticulture, wood, wine, seafood, and manufactured products like agricultural machinery and medical devices.
