Brash meets head of US trade

1.00pm

National Party leader Don Brash admitted to mixed emotions after a meeting with United States trade representative Robert Zoellick in Washington DC today.

Dr Brash told NZPA he now had higher hopes the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha round could make progress, which would be good for New Zealand.

But the meeting confirmed Mr Zoellick -- the No 1 US trade negotiator -- saw little prospect of New Zealand securing a free trade agreement with the US in the near future.

Mr Zoellick was feeling a bit more optimistic about the WTO round, Dr Brash said.

The becalmed multilateral trade negotiation round has been marked by in-fighting and missed deadlines, with European Union (EU) protection of its farmers with subsidies a vexed issue.

A EU proposal last month to end its agricultural export subsidies had raised hopes for the round. The US had also made concessions.

"He is not yet of course convinced something will happen, but he is more optimistic than he was a few months ago," Dr Brash said.

"We talked about the New Zealand situation, and it's pretty clear that we are not going to see a free trade agreement with the United States in the immediate future.

"That's something obviously which I regret."

New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation and refusal to take part in the US-led invasion of Iraq have been cited as reasons New Zealand is off the US radar for a free trade agreement.

Dr Brash said neither he nor Mr Zoellick had used the word "nuclear".

"He said the challenge for all free trade deals is to get it through congress, and it's just a bit more difficult getting New Zealand through congress than some other countries," Dr Brash said.

"My reading of it is that there is a farming lobby there ... New Zealand is a small market, so there is not a lot that the US sees as gaining for its producers, but some adjustment costs to their dairy and beef industries.

"Then of course, there is the long-standing security issue which he touched on only briefly.

"I left with conflicting views.

"I felt on the one hand the prospects for a Doha round were looking a little better than I thought they might be, and the New Zealand interest would be well served with a good multilateral round.

"I was pleasantly impressed by how much he was aware of New Zealand's situation and the role New Zealand has played in trade negotiations around the world, but there isn't the prospect of a free trade agreement -- that's the long and short of it."

There had been no discussions "at all" about how Dr Brash might help the situation if he was elected prime minister.

Dr Brash also had a luncheon with the centre-right Cato Institute, a US think tank.

He told the institute some of New Zealand's world-leading economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were gradually being rolled back.

"I told them the present Government is clearly going backwards at a fairly rapid pace in labour market laws," he said.

Dr Brash will also visit London and Beijing on a trip he is making without government officials.

The Government last month used notes taken by a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official to accuse him of sending different messages to the public and a group of US senators he met in January.

Dr Brash said he wasn't going to risk that happening again.

He will spend three days in Washington.

- NZPA