Latest publications | NZIER

Living and adapting on the edge: New Zealand’s trade and trade policy in a changing world - NZIER Insight 125

Written by The NZIER Team | March 25, 2026

New Zealand faces a more uncertain and fragmented global trading environment, requiring us to redouble our efforts on trade policy.

This Insight highlights that while New Zealand’s active free trade agreement strategy has delivered strong results, covering over 70 percent of trade and opening access to billions of consumers, future gains will be harder to secure.

Looking ahead, we suggest shifting strategy from pursuing new agreements to extracting more value from existing ones and deepening relationships with trusted partners.