8 Mar 2018

Analyst highly critical of NZ over PACER Plus deal

From , 5:04 am on 8 March 2018

An analyst says New Zealand's planned trade deal with Pacific Island nations could be extremely damaging to their economies.

For the past ten years, New Zealand with Australia has been strongly promoting the PACER PLUS trade deal and it is now awaiting ratification.

But Dr Cleo Paskal of the global think tank Chatham House says the deal shows a disconnect between the country's political aims in the region and its economic moves.

Speaking at a recent New Zealand Institute of International Affairs Dr Paskal said New Zealand risks gaining "strategic nincompoop" status.

Don Wiseman asked what she meant.

Representatives who signed the PACER Plus trade agreement in Tonga

Representatives who signed the PACER Plus trade agreement in Tonga Photo: Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat