1 week Ago By Lucy Craymer and Renju Jose
New Zealand will not revise its economic and fiscal plans despite the turmoil in the global financial markets triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariff plans, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Login or signup to continue reading A global trade war touched off by Trump's sweeping tariffs escalated further on Monday, as he threatened to increase duties on China and the European Union proposed its own counter-tariffs, wiping out trillions of dollars in stock market value. Trump has imposed a unilateral 10 per cent tariff on NZ, the low end of his reciprocal tariffs for all imports into the United States.
Wellington has said it would not retaliate. Though Trump's trade policies posed risks, Willis said her government had taken measures to effectively navigate through a period of uncertainties in global financial markets. "Though unwelcome, these impacts are likely to be modest in comparison with the impact for many other countries," Willis told reporters.
"We have enough resilience to withstand it and we are in ...
a fortunate position relative to others that we can stick to our economic and fiscal strategy." Willis said the government still expects to get its books back in surplus by the end of this decade, and that she planned to include in next month's budget the impacts of the tariffs on the country's economic growth. The US is NZ's second-largest market after China, with the Pacific nation in 2024 shipping about 12 per cent of its total exports to the US, official data showed.
Some of New Zealand's largest exports to the US, such as dairy, meat and fruits, are among the most traded commodities across the world, giving it more leverage to diversify its export markets, Willis said. NZ's economy has been struggling in recent months and the central bank has cut rates by 175 basis points since August to spur the economy. All 31 economists in a Reuters poll expect the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.
50 per cent at its Wednesday meeting and they see more cuts in 2025 as it reacts to US tariffs and their potential economic fallout. Australian Associated Press Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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