The table he released claims that NZ imposes an average 20% tariff on US goods. This is just fantasy. The actual level of average tariffs is around 2%.
What the Trump Administration appears to have done is include any GST or VAT in a country as a tariff. This is of course moronic as a GST or VAT applies to all goods and services, not just imported ones. It doesn’t advantage local suppliers at all.
The reality is that Trump just loves tariffs. He sees them as a great way to raise money. It’s the biggest tax increase in US history.
Because he has imposed tariffs on so many countries, I suspect US prices will increase more than if he had done them on just a few countries. There will be less pressure for exporters to absorb more of the cost.
The direct cost on NZ exports looks to be around $900 million a year. However how much of that is paid for by NZ exporters and how much by US consumers remains to be seen.
The other impact likely to be seen by NZers is KiwiSaver account balances tumbling as global sharemarkets fall. We may also see weaker economic growth and a slight uptick in unemployment, plus more cuts in interest rates.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
The reality is that Trump just loves tariffs. He sees them as a great way to raise money. It’s the biggest tax increase in US history.
Because he has imposed tariffs on so many countries, I suspect US prices will increase more than if he had done them on just a few countries. There will be less pressure for exporters to absorb more of the cost.
The direct cost on NZ exports looks to be around $900 million a year. However how much of that is paid for by NZ exporters and how much by US consumers remains to be seen.
The other impact likely to be seen by NZers is KiwiSaver account balances tumbling as global sharemarkets fall. We may also see weaker economic growth and a slight uptick in unemployment, plus more cuts in interest rates.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
15 comments:
Or the remaining OECD countries could band together to form a trade block against the US. And countries like China & Mexico could kick US manufacturers out of their countries.
The reality is no one does anything because it benefits the handful of very influential rich pricks who basically own everything.
But let’s not forget NZ wouldn’t be in anywhere near the same vulnerable position if Ardern, Hipkins, Robertson, Orr & Bloomfield hadn’t destroyed our economy.
OK Kiwi Trump worshipers. The ball is in your court.
Just a small snippet of what tariffs other countries impose on the US.
https://x.com/CharlieK_news/status/1906772675864768690
Does NZ impose tariffs on any US products?
Trump is merely doing what he can to make his own citizens lives better, not ours. While New Zealand has wallowed, and continues to wallow, in Part-Maori wonderfulness, climate change nonsense and rainbow tinted dreams, he can see what needs to be done and follows through. The answer, from my observation of Trump, is to align ourselves rather than oppose. It used to be called diplomacy. Trump, contrary to the MSM world view of him which is all pervasive, often backtracks if shown to be wrong about something.Time for us to make our own way in the world? When you are in the US you realise most Americans don't even know we exist.
Here is a more complete snippet of tariffs, each way....
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1907533090559324204/photo/1
Our currency drop has very generouly asisted exporters. Labour's greatest acheivement
Another list of tariffs...
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1907536529943154779/photo/1
The Jones Boy. Just confirm that the Kiwi / USD hasnt fluctuated in your life . Didnt Trump say the tariff will be treated reciprocally ?
May not be as bad as your wish against NZ.. Even DOGE will balance the US budget. Crime in corporate NZ and the burocracy?
Wouldnt it be great if PM Luxon worked for all NZ and not just Maori.
Just for once say the Treaty Principles Bill referendum is OK , the Foreshore and seabed should be Crown owned , NZ fresh water is Crown owned , divisive Maori ministeries are gone and NZ is equal .
I’m not going to fall for that one Jonesy but l will respond to your invite to comment.
How come the World gets its knickers in a twist when Trump decides to put American interests first (mainly by applying reciprocal tariffs against ones that have been crippling the US for decades - many from
“so called” friends who have benefited from the trade balance being in their favour.)
The hypocrisy of those demonising Trump is palpable.
Why can’t the world just accept that the US is now being led by someone who does what he promised during the campaigned.
You of all people should be welcoming this change to transparency on the international stage.
Trouble is, you are so used to being led by duplicitous frauds, that you fail to recognise common sense policies that will actually benefit even Trump haters like your good self.
I can't see that this will have much of an effect on NZ because the rest of the world is in the same boat, and the US produced products will be more expensive. It doesn't make us less competitive. What it is doing is increasing taxation, which I can't imagine is going to go down well with traditional Republicans.
It's worth remembering that the actual tax a country imposes on its people is not the tax actually but what is spent.
A deficit is a delayed tax but a tax all the same.
DOGE looks to me like a massive spending cut, they argue for $1Trillion or even $2Trillion. The tax rates in the US are in effect falling in the long term.
Tariffs are generally daft but a country such as Germany has had a 15% tariff on US cars forever, what do they expect is going to happen one day, well one day is today.
The EU is the most protectionist group of bullies on earth we now have a 10% price advantage over them in the US.
It is interesting to note that while Albanese and Luxon have both condemned the tariffs, they have both said they won’t retaliate - in The Aussie case, probably because they know Joe Hockey (as a golfing mate of Trumps) will get them taken off after Dutton wins the election and in NZ’s case Peters (who gets on well with the Trump administration) will achieve a similar result when it all dies down.
It’s just politics.
The End Game:- suck in all the world’s billionaires and millionaires to America.
Low taxation rates for American companies and personal wealth.
Tarrifs, supposedly help bring manufacturing jobs and companies back to America.
UK has lost 20 percent of its millionaire’s to America.
Follow the money people, follow the money.
I would love to comment Basil if I understood a word you said.
It is with good reason that Farrar uses the word "fantasy" when describing Trump's assertion that New Zealand imposes an average 20% tariff on US goods. It's just plain wrong. Or a lie. Or both.
And a closer look at the list of countries that have apparently been ripping off America for all these years reveals the fantasy is not confined to New Zealand. Tokelau is there - that powerhouse of plunder and pillage of the American economy - and Tokelau isn't even a real country, let alone a hive of import/export activity. But it gets better. Trump's little list includes two uninhabited islands, Heard Island and McDonald Island somewhere close to Antarctica. No people, but lots of penguins that apparently cheekily impose a 10% tariff on everything they import from the US. Well Trump certainly put them in their place with a reciprocal tariff on all their exports to the US. Clive Bibby will undoubtedly accuse me of cherry-picking but I imagine that plenty more inaccuracies, and/or lies will emerge as the fact checkers do their job.
On the matter of the link you helpfully provided, while I have not checked the tariff rates mentioned in the text, in the reposted video the woman speaks about a "nearly 300% tariff" imposed by Canada on American dairy products. Trump has made a big deal out of that. Well, a little fact-checking shows that while the rate is almost right, the context is totally wrong. The tariffs are imposed under the existing free trade agreement between US and Canada so are perfectly legal and agreed to by the US. In fact the agreement was entered into by Trump in his first term and loudly proclaimed by him as the greatest FTA ever struck. But the tariffs were only to be imposed if dairy imports exceeded a specified quota. And guess what. That quota has never been exceeded. All imports have been tariff free. Not a dollar has been charged. Quite a different story from that presented, and a story Trump chooses not to tell. So much for Charlie Kirk's credibility. But then to be fair, he does describe his piece as "Political Satire" which may well be a clue as to his real motive. Either way it's hardly a robust defense of Trump's dangerous fantasies.
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