New Zealand hit with 15% Trump trade tariff

RNZ News

6 days ago

US President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs. (File photo)
Photo:
SAUL LOEB
New Zealand exports to the US will face a 15 percent tariff rate, it has been announced.
Trade Minister Todd McClay will be speaking to Midday Report's Charlotte Cook shortly. You can listen to a livestream above or in our app.
The White House
has revised its list of tariffs for particular countries
and New Zealand has been put on a 15 percent base rate, up from
the original 10 percent
announced earlier.
US President Donald Trump announced the tariffs back in April and said he they would be imposed on more than 125 countries.
Tariffs are
paid by importers of products from other countries
to their own governments, like taxes, effectively making imported goods more expensive for local consumers.
Advocates say they protect local economies, while detractors say they reduce trade and push up prices.
In announcing the initial range of tariffs in April, Trump caused confusion when he held up a chart saying New Zealand
charged US goods a 20 percent tariff
, which the New Zealand government denied.
It ended up being 10 percent, which Finance Minister Nicola Willis
at the time called "extraordinary"
. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand
would not respond in kind
.
Two-thirds of Kiwi businesses
in a survey earlier this year
thought the tariffs would have a more severe global impact than Covid-19 and the global financial crisis over the next 12 months.
Trump has repeatedly threatened a range of different tariffs on various nations since returning to the White House -
most recently India
, citing its own trade barriers and purchasing of energy and arms from Russia, and Canada,
over its newfound support for Palestinian statehood
.
More to come...