Farmers and campaigners have denounced a new trade deal between the UK and New Zealand which they say will disadvantage domestic producers and undermine sustainable farming policies.
This week, the UK government signed an agreement with New Zealand that will remove trade barriers on a wide range of goods and services. This includes foods such as beef, lamb and dairy products which will see tariffs eliminated over time.
The government said the deal would make imports of products such as Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Manuka Honey and kiwi fruit more affordable.
However, the National Farmers Union (NFU) said the deal presented a risk to UK farmers and for people wanting to buy British food. “The government is now asking British farmers to go toe-to-toe with some of the most export-orientated farmers in the world, without the serious, long-term and properly funded investment in UK agriculture that can enable us to do so; the sort of strategic investment in farming and exports that the New Zealand government has made in recent decades,” said NFU president Minette Batters.
Campaigners, meanwhile, warned the deal did not include sufficiently strong guarantees over environmental standards of imported foods, as was also the case for the controversial trade deal with Australia. “Despite efforts to consider environmental impact, the UK New Zealand trade deal agreed today follows the same blueprint as the UK Australia deal in lowering tariffs to zero in key agricultural sectors,” said Katie White, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF. “This opens the door to food produced in ways that harm nature and fuel the climate crisis, undermining the UK’s own transition to more sustainable farming.”
White added that the government should “urgently adopt a set of core standards – including environmental standards – set in UK law, which will allow us to open up trade in the best products from around the world, but ensure we can filter out goods that are produced at high environmental cost and that increase the UK’s global environmental footprint”.
The government said the deal represented “one of our greenest deals ever” and confirmed the commitment of both the UK and New Zealand to the Paris climate agreement and net zero targets.
The Food and Drink Federation welcomed the deal which it said would drive significant further growth in exports of products such as chocolate, coffee and biscuits.
