{"id":524645,"date":"2026-07-13T23:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524645\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T23:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:38:08","slug":"former-prime-minister-sir-john-key-slams-clown-opponents-of-india-free-trade-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524645\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Prime Minister Sir John Key slams \u2018clown\u2019 opponents of India free trade agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

NZ First has been heavily critical<\/a> of the agreement, including its immigration settings and investment clause.<\/p>\n

\"NZNZ First leader Winston Peters has been a vocal critic of the free trade agreement with India.
\nPhoto \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s leader Winston Peters has been a long-standing critic<\/a> of the investment clause, which talks about US$20 billion ($34b) worth of private investment by New Zealand firms in India over 15 years.<\/p>\n

The Indian side of the argument say this figure is a promise by New Zealand \u2013 the New Zealand side argues the Government is only obliged to \u201cpromote\u201d investment in India to hopefully reach the goal.<\/p>\n

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said three times during his visit to Auckland last weekend the figure was a \u201cfirm commitment\u201d from New Zealand, Peters told the Herald it was \u201cbreathtaking stuff\u201d that Modi could come to this country and there still be confusion.<\/p>\n

In April, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said his party would support the free trade deal<\/a> but warned exporters could have their market access revoked if New Zealand can\u2019t fulfil the investment commitment.<\/p>\n

\"NarendraNarendra Modi is greeted by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon after a p\u014dwhiri welcoming the Indian Prime Minister onto Government House during Modi’s visit to Auckland on Saturday. Photo \/ Bruce Mackay<\/p>\n

The FTA, now before Parliament for approval and expected to be ratified later this year, will mean 95% of New Zealand\u2019s current exports to the world\u2019s fastest-growing economy will be tariff-free or have sharply reduced tariffs.<\/p>\n

Early estimates suggested the agreement could generate an additional $1b in exports annually over the next 20 years, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay said.<\/p>\n

The trade deal didn\u2019t secure New Zealand full access to India\u2019s tightly protected dairy market<\/a>, long one of the biggest hurdles in trade talks.<\/p>\n

Core dairy products are excluded, but tariffs on bulk infant formula and other high-value dairy preparations will be eliminated over seven years.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Prime Minister Sir John Key has strong words for anyone opposed to the India free trade deal. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n

The deal would get better over time, said Key, noting India\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you close your eyes and wake up in 10 or 15 years\u2019 time, you name for me the superpowers in the world because I can do it for you right now \u2013 the United States, China, and India.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are growing at 7% a year in India, if not more. You tell me that we don\u2019t want to hitch ourselves to that wagon?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NZ First has been heavily critical of the agreement, including its immigration settings and investment clause. NZ First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19064,8212,76434,2740,4975,122031,2344,5126,4277,6722,111,43,139,69,1118,21941,125064,415,312,8485,19993,584,102,2963],"class_list":["post-524645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-agreement","tag-anyone","tag-clown","tag-former","tag-free","tag-fta","tag-india","tag-john","tag-key","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-opponents","tag-opposed","tag-prime","tag-says","tag-sir","tag-slams","tag-trade","tag-with","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524645","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=524645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}