{"id":378246,"date":"2026-04-14T01:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378246\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T01:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:59:09","slug":"labour-says-india-fta-is-being-rushed-seeks-more-details-from-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378246\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour says India FTA is being rushed, seeks more details from Govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cracks are appearing to deepen through the India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as Labour accuses National of pushing through a rushed, secretive deal as the clock ticks for it to be signed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But National is maintaining the Opposition has been given ample time to delve into the deal, with Trade Minister Todd McClay telling interest.co.nz on Monday evening: “We’ve had four months of engaging extensively with Labour on this. This includes phone calls, in-person meetings and sessions where officials were able to answer their questions and provide the information they asked for, including official advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We expect there is likely to be one more meeting as a result of an additional request made towards the end of the last joint meeting,” McClay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

National and ACT<\/a> need Labour’s support for the proposed FTA because NZ First, their coalition partner, isn’t supporting the deal. In December NZ First leader Winston Peters said<\/a> the deal was neither free nor fair, and gives too much away, especially on immigration, without getting enough in return for New\u00a0Zealanders, including on dairy.<\/p>\n

RNZ\u2019s IndoNZ<\/a> reported last week that India\u2019s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters in New Delhi: \u201cWe also had meetings with Mr Todd McClay \u2026 who will be coming to India in the fourth week of April, when we plan to sign the free trade agreement finalised with New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether he would travel to India in April to sign the FTA and if there were any plans for him to head to India then, McClay said: \u201cIndia and New Zealand are working towards legal verification of the text and have been discussing what would be an appropriate time to sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very positive sign that India is eager to sign the FTA quickly – which is something supported by the wider New Zealand business and export community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with all trade agreements, Parliament and the public will have an opportunity to fully scrutinise the agreement in open session,\u201d McClay said.<\/p>\n

‘A rushed deal’<\/p>\n

On Tuesday,\u00a0Labour leader Chris Hipkins called the India FTA a rushed deal<\/a>, saying; \u201cthe negotiation is far faster than any other agreement and far more secretively than any other agreement New Zealand has entered into\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hipkins made the comments on NZME’s Ryan Bridge TODAY. He also said the India FTA has clauses that none of the country\u2019s other agreements have.<\/p>\n

Hipkins\u2019 comments come after business leaders released an open letter on Monday calling for all political parties to back the India FTA.<\/p>\n

Hipkins told Bridge on Tuesday that Labour had gone back to the Government wanting more detail around investment and visas for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no ability in the agreement to cap international students and given the Government has extended work rights to students, we are concerned about the potential implications of that in an environment where unemployment is increasing,\u201d Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to understand who is allowed to come under this agreement and who isn\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The investment clause was also something Labour wanted more detail on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re committing us to $33 billion dollars going out of New Zealand into India over the next 15 years.”<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve got real questions about whether that\u2019s realistic, where that money is going to come from and what the consequences will be if New Zealand doesn\u2019t achieve that,” Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

On the call from businesses to sign the deal, Hipkins said they had published an open letter asking Labour to sign a deal that they haven\u2019t read.<\/p>\n

When Bridge said those businesses had been briefed, Hipkins said the briefing Labour received when the Government first announced the deal, sounded like a good deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019ve actually read the deal, it doesn\u2019t match up with what they told us was in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hipkins said this is something they all have a responsibility to understand \u201cbefore we plow on to signing this deal\u201d.<\/p>\n

When asked about the clauses, Hipkins said there was a clause in the agreement that; \u201callows India to claw back the concessions they\u2019re granting to New Zealand if we don\u2019t meet their expectations around New Zealand investment in India\u201d.<\/p>\n

Peters also spoke out about the letter which was signed by BusinessNZ and 28 exporters and industry associations like Zespri, Seafood New Zealand, M\u0101ori Kiwifruit Growers, and ExportNZ.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow [BusinessNZ] and the 28 other businesses and associations could have signed up to support the India FTA without knowing what is in it is an appalling commentary on them all,”\u00a0Peters said on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is tantamount to those businesses signing a contract blindfolded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back and forth<\/p>\n

On Monday Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told\u00a0Newstalk ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking the deal<\/a>\u00a0shouldn\u2019t be political.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Kiwi thing. It\u2019s actually not to do with National or Labour, or left or right or any of that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually about what is the right thing to do for New Zealand and that\u2019s why on every other trade agreement, you\u2019ve seen bipartisan support,\u201d Luxon said.<\/p>\n

In times like this, Luxon said; \u201cyou want as much optionality as to where you can send your products as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

When it came to working with Labour on the deal, he also told reporters on Monday afternoon; \u201cthere\u2019s been very constructive and good conversations undertaken with, I think, a tremendous amount of goodwill\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made our Ministers and officials available to the Labour side in many meetings. Now there\u2019s been an exchange of letters and it\u2019s just essentially alleviating their concerns that they may be raising and helping them understand why we think this is such a fantastic deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hipkins on Monday, said Labour had been asking the Government for a response to their concerns for almost two months. \u201cThey are yet to provide the detail we have requested.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There are issues and inconsistencies that still need to be clarified by the Government to ensure any deal works in the long-term interest of New Zealanders,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Once we\u2019ve received the details and worked through all the advice, we will discuss as a caucus and make a decision about whether to support the legislation.”<\/p>\n

On a potential signing, Hipkins said Labour had not been informed by the Government but the party had seen the news reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cSigning a free trade agreement if you don\u2019t have the majority support in Parliament, and at this point they don\u2019t, would be recklessly irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cracks are appearing to deepen through the India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as Labour accuses National of pushing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-378246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378246","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=378246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}