Agriculture key to free-trade deal says Clark

By VERNON SMALL AND NZPA

A free-trade agreement with the United States must include agricultural products, especially dairy exports, the Prime Minister says.

Helen Clark talked free trade during meetings with US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Apec summit in Shanghai last weekend.

On her return, she said New Zealand had received more encouragement than ever before for a pact, both from Washington and from the US Chamber of Commerce, which hosted a breakfast for her in Shanghai.

But New Zealand believed agriculture must be part of such a deal.

"We've got a lot of access to the US markets for other goods - it's dairy which is the big prize for us and meat, of course, is also very important."

New Zealand had always pressed for comprehensive trade agreements.

"That's not to say you necessarily expect everything in year one, two or three, but you want a mechanism for seeing that, over time, those areas come into the agreement."

President Bush hopes to get "fast-track" legislation through Congress in the next few months giving him the power to make trade deals.

Mr Powell raised the prospect of a free-trade agreement between the countries once the President had that power.

Helen Clark told Mr Bush that NZ wanted to be "the first cab off the rank" when that happened.

But National leader Bill English said that there was little cause for optimism, and the trade talks should be seen in the context of US attempts to build a coalition against terrorism.

"I don't think they see it as costing anything to cast a few baubles in front of the Prime Minister. "The fact is there's a long history of resistance in the US to free-trade deals particularly with agricultural producers.

"I don't think a weekend in Shanghai has dissolved that whole history."

Helen Clark, however, said the September 11 attacks had brought a re-evaluation by the US of its relationships.

After the 1999 Apec summit in Auckland, President Bill Clinton promised Prime Minister Jenny Shipley that he would look at a five-way trade deal involving New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Singapore and the US.

"I have asked the Prime Minister to give me 10 to 14 days to go home, talk to all of our people about it, have a chance to think it through," Mr Clinton said then.

The idea gained little traction, and New Zealand has since pressed for a joint approach with Australia.

However, Canberra has forged ahead with its attempts to strike a bilateral deal, raising fears here that it would use its status as an active player in Anzus to advance its case, leaving New Zealand out in the cold.

Mr English said he was pleased to see the Government pushing free trade and adopting a pro-US foreign policy. But there was little to suggest the present talks would be more successful than a five-country deal.

He said the US, by praising the Clark Government's stance on terrorism, including an offer of SAS troops, "was reacting to the eagerness of the Prime Minister to curry favour, having spent years and years on anti-American positions".

Full coverage: Apec 2001

Apec China 2001 official site