{"id":145026,"date":"2025-11-20T17:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/145026\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T17:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:18:08","slug":"donald-trumps-tariff-move-a-boost-for-exporters-but-what-next-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/145026\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump\u2019s tariff move a boost for exporters, but what next? \u2013 Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s good news<\/a> for New Zealand exporters, who have faced increased costs since the extra tariffs were introduced.<\/p>\n

New Zealand beef exporters<\/a> alone have so far paid $300 million or so in extra tariffs since they were introduced on August 1.<\/p>\n

The products affected represent about 25% of New Zealand\u2019s exports to the US, worth more than $2 billion a year.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order is expected to save exporters about $330m in tariffs.<\/p>\n

The benefits extend to US consumers as well.<\/p>\n

In implementing the tariffs, Trump said they would make groceries and everyday goods easier to afford.<\/p>\n

But economists and commentators warned the tariffs would lead to increased costs passed on to US consumers.<\/p>\n

And so it came to pass. Economists and commentators were right.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay says US beef prices are at some of the highest levels they\u2019ve ever been, pointing to a \u201cdeficit of beef\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US doesn\u2019t produce enough of its own and is having to import it, McClay says. It\u2019s one of the main reasons the US has been buying from New Zealand and other countries and that tariff rate is having an inflationary effect, he says.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the beef? Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says supply is short because a number of big export countries, particularly the US, are going through a herd rebuilding phase.<\/p>\n

Global supply is tight and it\u2019s pushing up prices.<\/p>\n

Karapeeva says the current tight supply could last for another two years.<\/p>\n

These factors have helped push the case to scrap the tariffs and provide relief to our primary producers and exporters.<\/p>\n

It is a great result, though there is more to do with other key products still facing high tariffs, including lamb.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t rest on our laurels.<\/p>\n

McClay has reacted with cautious optimism, saying it is still a very uncertain time for Kiwi exporters and he\u2019s concerned about the changing nature of decisions from the White House. \u201cWe\u2019ll be pushing to make sure and get some certainty that [tariffs] stay down and the President doesn\u2019t reverse it at some point in the near or distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n

True, it has been in many ways an unpredictable presidency … again.<\/p>\n

While the tariff cuts are welcome news, caution is prudent. We could continue guessing Trump\u2019s next move until the cows come home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That\u2019s good news for New Zealand exporters, who have faced increased costs since the extra tariffs were introduced.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[11231,138,3013,2178,219,13997,29744,3278,2082,2683,111,139,1536,69,583,19096,6923],"class_list":["post-145026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-boost","tag-business","tag-but","tag-donald","tag-economy","tag-editorial","tag-exporters","tag-facts","tag-for","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-tariff","tag-trumps","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}