New Zealand-Pacific Alliance free trade agreement overview

New Zealand is aiming for a high-quality, comprehensive, and progressive trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance.

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The Pacific Alliance is a dynamic Latin American free trade area and economic integration initiative established by Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru in 2011.

The bloc is the world’s eighth-largest economy and home to over 220 million people, and growing.

New Zealand has a long-standing relationship with the Alliance and its members. We were one of the first countries to become an Observer in 2012, and began to seek Associate Membership of the Alliance in 2017. As part of this, New Zealand is negotiating a free trade agreement with the Alliance.

Two-way trade with the Alliance is modest, but New Zealand sees considerable scope to expand this.

In 2023, New Zealand exported $1 billion of goods and services to the Pacific Alliance membership. Dairy products are New Zealand's largest goods export, but services exports such as tourism and education are also growing.

Objectives

A Pacific Alliance trade agreement would deliver on a number of New Zealand objectives:

  • Deepen our relationships and New Zealand’s profile in Latin America
  • Establish New Zealand’s first free trade agreement with Colombia and complement existing trade ties with Chile, Mexico, and Peru through CPTPP. 
  • Participate in shaping an important Latin American initiative that will promote trade and economic integration in the Asia Pacific, securing New Zealand’s place within it.
  • Work with partner countries to demonstrate our shared commitment to the rules-based international system and trade liberalisation.

Contact

If you have any other questions about the negotiations, contact us at: PacificAllianceFTA@mfat.govt.nz

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