Audrey Young: Nuclear summit paves way for crucial free-trade talks

Prime minister John Key should get good deal of credit for his trip to North America this week - and probably more than he will give himself.

He got to Barack Obama's nuclear summit and made the most of it to promote New Zealand's number one foreign policy issue at present: the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade talks involving the US.

But Key is hanging out for a bilateral trip to the White House so much so that he appears not to fully appreciate the significance of having got to Barack Obama's nuclear summit.

Every point of high-level contact is measured against the test of whether it will lessen Key's chances of getting the Big One this year.

The invitation to the summit itself was naturally accepted but was put through the worry test - would it lessen his chances of getting the White House trip? No it wouldn't, the smoke signals from Washington suggested.

The request from Vice-President Joe Biden has also been cause for anxiety - will it less his chances of a full bilateral visit later in the year? Again apparently not.

The focus on the White house is not simply for another notch in Key's belt.

His visit, whenever it is, will play a major part in New Zealand's crucial campaign to win the hearts and minds of the House and Senate and the US farming sector for a TTP with agriculture in it.

It is not done for Prime Ministers just to turn up in a country to work on such business without the formalities of an invitation.

A TTP without agriculture would not be worth new zealand signing. A TTP without the US would be a huge blow.

A TTP without New Zealand is possible.

It is no wonder John Key is anxious to get on with it.

The Government needs a plan B as well as a plan A for this year.

It's the not knowing that is creating the problem.