Clearly, one stay in managed isolation wasn’t enough for Damien O’Connor.
Surprise news of another overseas trip by the Trade and Export Growth Minister means he will have spent the best part of a month in an MIQ facility by the end of 2021.
While it was a selfie with a famous feline that brought MFAT chief executive Chris Seed’s offshore trip into the spotlight, O’Connor’s own expedition came to attention thanks to a photo with a human.
US Chargé d’Affaires Kevin Covert posted a photo with the minister on social media, describing it as a “great meeting…on the eve of his visit to Washington DC”.
That was news to political journalists who had not been told of O’Connor’s travel, in contrast to his Europe trip in June which was announced about a month in advance.
Thus began some frenzied speculation about exactly where he was going and who he would be meeting, the minister insisting “there’s nothing secret here” even as he suggested his schedule was yet to be finalised just days from his departure.
O’Connor’s office ended the guessing game with an official (if belated) announcement of his schedule on Tuesday afternoon.
A trip to Washington DC at the end of this week will be followed by visits to Sweden, France, Ireland and Italy, as well as a Brussels meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis; curiously, the UK was absent from the official itinerary, although the minister had earlier indicated a trip to London was in the offing.
The US visit is understood to be more about building relationships than aiming for any tangible outcomes, with Joe Biden’s administration showing little sign of any urgency when it comes to forging economic ties in the Indo-Pacific region.
“We missed a deadline because both of us agreed that it’s better to have a substantive trade agreement with benefits for both parties, [than] to rush for an arbitrary deadline.”
But it is Europe which will be of most pressing importance to O’Connor as he attempts to inject some urgency back into trade talks with the UK and EU.
O’Connor and his British counterpart Liz Truss set a self-imposed target of reaching an agreement in principle by the end of August – only for that deadline to come and go without an announcement, while Truss has since been moved out of her international trade portfolio following a Cabinet reshuffle.
“We missed a deadline because both of us agreed that it’s better to have a substantive trade agreement with benefits for both parties, [than] to rush for an arbitrary deadline,” he said.
Even if O’Connor doesn’t make it to the UK, he will still have an opportunity to meet Truss’ successor Anne-Marie Trevelyan when he attends the G20 trade ministers’ meeting in Italy (the rare invitation being a perk of New Zealand’s role as APEC host).
The pair will have to hash out some of the remaining sensitivities which must be resolved before any deal can be agreed, with O’Connor citing the market access offer for New Zealand agriculture products – a traditional difficulty for Kiwi negotiators – as one area where the British had more to do.
Politico Europe has also reported on a split within the UK Cabinet over the level of enhanced visa access for young New Zealanders, following concessions made to Australia for its own trade deal.
But one trade source told Newsroom the delay was also due to some surprising obstacles on the New Zealand side.
Visa access, Māori trade outstanding issues on NZ side
One problem related to a British push for visas covering engineers, technicians and other service suppliers who needed to travel to New Zealand to work for a limited time on specific projects.
While granting such access to the UK would in itself not be a problem, a “most favoured nation” clause in New Zealand’s trade deal with China means the Government would need to offer similar concessions to Chinese workers – an arrangement which it seems less keen to progress.
The promotion of Māori trade interests is also understood to be a matter still under negotiation, particularly around intellectual property and digital trade.
While New Zealand has previously relied on a broad exception clause in its FTAs to ensure it could meet its Treaty of Waitangi obligations without breaching trade commitments, the Government’s Trade For All advisory board said there needed to be more participation in trade negotiations by Māori, and more thorough incorporation of Māori interests and values.
While New Zealand negotiators may have previously cited the UK-Australia deal as precedent for gains on market access and visa mobility, there is a school of thought that the trilateral security alliance between Australia, the UK and US could allow British officials to argue that the relationship merits special considerations.
Conversely, the Aukus alliance may have opened some doors for New Zealand in long-running and somewhat stalled trade talks with the EU.
French fury over Canberra’s cancellation of a $90 billion submarine project, in favour of a nuclear-powered American alternative, has led some to suggest Australia-EU trade talks could be put on the back-burner as a result.
If work on the Australia deal was to grind to a halt, that would leave European negotiators with the capacity to divert their attention to New Zealand talks – and a potential motivation to wrap up a deal while the Australians are left twisting in the breeze.
“It is more complicated; we see some member states are not really able to find compromises, specifically in the agriculture sector…and of course the question of trust is now occurring,” European international trade committee chairman Bernd Lange told the ABC when speaking about likely delays to negotiations.
While the trade talks with both Australia and New Zealand now sit with the European Commission rather than individual EU countries, the body is likely not blind to the direction in which the political winds are blowing.
If work on the Australia deal was to grind to a halt, that would leave European negotiators with the capacity to divert their attention to New Zealand talks – and a potential motivation to wrap up a deal while the Australians are left twisting in the breeze.
Of course, the trans-Tasman relationship could be affected by such an outcome, while there are still politically delicate issues to be navigated between Kiwi negotiators and their European counterparts.
But with O’Connor visiting Paris for an OECD meeting, in addition to his talks with Dombrovskis and other European partners, there is an opportunity for the Government to move negotiations into a higher gear.
With Kiwi exporters showing no signs of slowing their reliance on the China market, ministers will be keen to conclude talks with both the UK and EU and give businesses a greater reason to grow their market share across a wider range of countries.
