The United Kingdom is a crucial market for some of New Zealand's key exports, with two-way trade worth NZ$6 billion pre-COVID. The NZ-UK FTA will provide New Zealand exporters with more favourable access to the UK market, helping to build trade back up to pre-COVID levels and beyond.
Read the official announcement from the Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Export Growth here.
Benefits for exporters
Once the FTA is in force, New Zealand exporters will be able to compete on a level playing field in the United Kingdom, particularly against other global exporters who have already secured free trade deals with the UK.
99.5 percent of New Zealand's current trade will enter the UK duty free on day one of the Agreement, through a combination of tariff elimination and transitional duty-free quotas. All other tariffs will be phased out over three or seven years.
New Zealand has also secured the removal of other administratively burdensome and costly non-tariff barriers in the UK market.
The FTA will support greater trade in services through enhanced access and greater certainty for New Zealand services exporters in the UK market.
The UK and New Zealand have also agreed an inclusive Digital Trade chapter that will support and facilitate easier and more effective digital ways and means of trading, including through paperless trading and the use of e-signatures and e-documents.
For more detail on NZ-UK FTA outcomes and next steps, visit MFAT's detailed resources here: www.mfat.govt.nz/nzukfta
Further information for exporters
NZTE and MFAT have prepared an update on what the NZ-UK FTA means for exporters, including goods and tariffs, services and investments, Māori interests, and environmental commitments.
