Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced from Doha that New Zealand had concluded a free trade agreement with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman), with a joint statement signed at the 67th GCC Trade Cooperation Committee meeting. McClay called it the highest-quality deal the GCC had done to date and its first with a major agricultural exporter. The government said it would remove duties on 99% of NZ exports over 10 years; NZ sold about $2.6 billion to the bloc in the year to June 2024, including $1.8 billion of dairy.

New Zealand signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates, its first FTA in the Middle East. MFAT said 98.5% of NZ goods exports would gain duty-free access on entry into force, rising to 99% within three years, with all dairy, red meat and horticultural products covered immediately. The agreement was forecast to save exporters about NZD$42 million a year in tariffs.

The NZ-UAE CEPA came into force on 28 August 2025, the first of the government's new agreements to actually take effect. NZ Customs confirmed exporters could claim preferential tariff treatment from that date. Officials projected the deal could lift two-way trade past US$5 billion by 2032, up from an average near US$1.5 billion in 2019-2023.

After negotiations launched in March 2025, New Zealand and India concluded an FTA in December 2025. RNZ reported it would make about 95% of current NZ exports tariff-free or reduced, eliminating India's 33% sheep-meat tariff and tariffs on wool and most forestry. Dairy, NZ's largest export, was largely excluded; Todd McClay said reviews after entry into force and a most-favoured clause could improve dairy access later. India's commerce minister said India would not open its dairy market to any nation.

The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) said the India FTA delivered for many sectors but not dairy, with tariff cuts reaching product categories worth only about 3.8% of NZ's global dairy trade. Chairman Guy Roper said India had been unwilling to deliver more than small changes but credited officials for concluding the deal under tight timeframes; executive director Kimberly Crewther warned the duty-free re-export provision is rarely usable because of Indian red tape. DCANZ said it backed ratification "on balance" for the wider economic gains.

New Zealand signed the India FTA in New Delhi on 27 April 2026, but the deal sparked a public split in the coalition. NZ First leader Winston Peters called it "neither free nor fair" and opposed its migration provisions, which include up to 1,667 skilled-worker visas a year on non-renewable three-year terms; he warned of large inflows displacing New Zealanders. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Peters was "wrong", while Labour leader Chris Hipkins called signing without secured parliamentary numbers "recklessly irresponsible". Because the FTA needs Tariff Act changes, the government cannot pass it without NZ First or Labour support.

Online reaction is sharply split: exporters and business voices welcome the Gulf and India deals as long-overdue market access, while farming and some political commentary fixates on dairy being left out and on the India FTA's migration provisions, which became the loudest flashpoint.

See the conversation:

• X
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Reddit

Aggregated — individual posts are not cited.

National has committed that a re-elected National government would begin free trade negotiations with seven new markets within five years: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Switzerland and the European Free Trade Association bloc (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). Trade spokesperson Todd McClay said the markets — worth about $1.8 billion in current exports — offered large untapped opportunities, and pointed to the recently concluded India deal as evidence the party delivers on trade. The pledge is conditional on National being re-elected at the November 2026 election.

On 11 July 2026 Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — the first Indian PM to visit New Zealand in 40 years — met in Auckland and elevated the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, unveiling a Roadmap to 2030. It targets doubling two-way trade to about NZ$7 billion by 2030 and deepens defence links, including a new Maritime Cooperation Arrangement and annual maritime security talks, alongside the tariff cuts in the recently concluded free trade agreement. Labour leader Chris Hipkins called a closer relationship with India positive overall, but flagged a discrepancy over an investment clause in the FTA, which he said India reads as a firm commitment while New Zealand treats it as a commitment only to promote investment, warning of potential consequences for exporters if the two readings diverge. Luxon has said the investment issue is clearly understood on both sides.

Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay announced that New Zealand and Switzerland have agreed to set up a Trade and Investment Dialogue, a forum to explore closer cooperation on trade, investment, e-commerce, economic security and sustainability. McClay said the dialogue would lead to closer economic cooperation between the two countries. Officials are due to hold their first meeting in September. Switzerland is currently a net exporter to New Zealand: in the year to December 2025 two-way trade was worth about NZ$1.88 billion, made up of roughly NZ$429 million in New Zealand exports (largely travel services, meat and hides) against about NZ$1.45 billion in imports (mainly transport services, pharmaceuticals, watches and insurance). The dialogue is a talks framework rather than a free trade agreement, and no negotiation timeline has been announced.