The guy who locked down Auckland indefinitely during the pandemic, closed our borders so not one foreigner could enter, and even Kiwis with NZ passports based overseas for that matter; who trashed the future of a generation of our school children; who ordered the Covid vaccine late, though would never admit it; and who caused high inflation & stuffed the NZ economy - now goes on Radio to accuse US President Trump of not being an internationalist and out of order for his tariffs. How ironic for this centralizing, anti-capitalist, shut-the-borders leader of the Labour Party to falsely pretend he hates barriers between countries. Hipkins says NZ has pretty much offered tariff-free access to everyone who's asked for it "and was willing to reciprocate". US exporters "trying to get into NZ face no barriers at all", he adds. So lets see how well his embrace of free trade actually stacks up.
When it comes to tariffing imports to try making local goods & services more competitive & encourage overseas firms to enter NZ, has Hipkins engaged in such Trumpist activities? No. He's done the reverse. He taxed our exporters to make them less internationally competitive. Who has he done that to? Our agricultural sector which he put in the Emissions Trading Scheme so they'd have to buy permits to allow them to have cows. The problem with Hipkin's policy was that most other nations don't tax their farmers that same way.
Aside from taxing local Kiwi exports, not overseas imports, what else has Hipkins been up to on the international front? He slammed in the foreign buyer ban on residential property, in cahoots with David Parker. So much for free flows of capital into NZ and being committed to free markets. Maybe there's some justification for banning foreigner property buyers in such a way, but more broadly, how about Hipkins policies on foreign investment into NZ? This was his announcement only one month ago, "[National-ACT-NZ First's] reckless overhaul of the Overseas Investment Act is a fast track for foreign investment at the expense of Kiwi interests .. Investing in NZ is not an open invitation for profit-chasing investors to exploit our resources .. this Government is throwing the doors wide open, without ensuring our assets serve the interests of Kiwi workers, businesses, and communities .. I don’t see any effort to consider Māori .. This Government is making it easier for foreign companies to buy up key assets .." Gosh, does Hipkins really believe its disgusting to be a "profit-chasing investor". These lines of his are enough to make even a born-again trade protectionist blush with embarrassment. They're enough to make a loony lefty sound completely sane.
In summary, what is Labour Leader Hipkin's attitude to matters of overseas trade? Push NZ's agricultural exports on the world and go berserk should anyone try to tariff them - but then go and tariff them yourself with emissions taxes. As for tariffing imports, celebrate the fact we don't tariff them one bit, even though that may have contributed to the total decimation of manufacturing in NZ and smashing of the livelihoods of low income workers. Rely pretty much solely on farmers for driving exports, but wage war with them over the environment. Then when it comes to boosting capital in NZ to solve our productivity problems, practically ban overseas investment in the country, making it so impossible to adhere to NZ's morass of complicated regulations that foreigners won't bother trying. Hipkins economic strategy seems to be as follows - turn Kiwis into subsistence farmers. Ironically, it is the free flow of overseas capital that is welcomed with open arms by the US as it seeks to attract business to its shores. Labour's Hipkins is way more anti-foreigner & anti-foreign trade than Mr Trump.
Aside from taxing local Kiwi exports, not overseas imports, what else has Hipkins been up to on the international front? He slammed in the foreign buyer ban on residential property, in cahoots with David Parker. So much for free flows of capital into NZ and being committed to free markets. Maybe there's some justification for banning foreigner property buyers in such a way, but more broadly, how about Hipkins policies on foreign investment into NZ? This was his announcement only one month ago, "[National-ACT-NZ First's] reckless overhaul of the Overseas Investment Act is a fast track for foreign investment at the expense of Kiwi interests .. Investing in NZ is not an open invitation for profit-chasing investors to exploit our resources .. this Government is throwing the doors wide open, without ensuring our assets serve the interests of Kiwi workers, businesses, and communities .. I don’t see any effort to consider Māori .. This Government is making it easier for foreign companies to buy up key assets .." Gosh, does Hipkins really believe its disgusting to be a "profit-chasing investor". These lines of his are enough to make even a born-again trade protectionist blush with embarrassment. They're enough to make a loony lefty sound completely sane.
In summary, what is Labour Leader Hipkin's attitude to matters of overseas trade? Push NZ's agricultural exports on the world and go berserk should anyone try to tariff them - but then go and tariff them yourself with emissions taxes. As for tariffing imports, celebrate the fact we don't tariff them one bit, even though that may have contributed to the total decimation of manufacturing in NZ and smashing of the livelihoods of low income workers. Rely pretty much solely on farmers for driving exports, but wage war with them over the environment. Then when it comes to boosting capital in NZ to solve our productivity problems, practically ban overseas investment in the country, making it so impossible to adhere to NZ's morass of complicated regulations that foreigners won't bother trying. Hipkins economic strategy seems to be as follows - turn Kiwis into subsistence farmers. Ironically, it is the free flow of overseas capital that is welcomed with open arms by the US as it seeks to attract business to its shores. Labour's Hipkins is way more anti-foreigner & anti-foreign trade than Mr Trump.
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
6 comments:
Hipkins lying his way into 2026? What else?
Some picked up the 'Chippie' rebranding of Hipkins after Ardern scuttled off into the NZ sunset, to tag him with the moniker of 'chips-for-brains' which seems a perfect fit.
Be fair Professor, be fair. At least he was late to order the Covid ‘vaccines’.
What have Hipkins policies and views, past and present, got to do with the recently announced tariffs by President Trump, which are already having a global effect on investments and economic processes? Absolutely nothing! Who cares about what he thinks when the world economy comes to terms with these all-embracing tariffs and Americans are marching in the streets in protest. This piece is just a diatribe.
We SHOULD care what Hipkins thinks because he is the Leader of the Opposition, and thus has a big influence on our political scene. Ignore him at our peril
And, anon@1.20, don't forget he also believes Maori didn't cede sovereignty. Indeed, ignore him at our peril!
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