National is promising to deliver New Zealand's boldest-ever trade push if it wins the election, creating "shiploads of jobs" and giving the economy a multi-billion dollar boost.
Trade spokesman Todd McClay says a National-led government will work to unlock markets with 2.5 billion new consumers for the benefit of large and small exporters in every region.
"This new trade access will create shiploads of jobs and be worth billions of dollars to our economy and businesses across the country," he said on Tuesday.
Most of the initiatives Mr McClay is committing to following through have already been announced and some, including TPP11, are under negotiation.
National leader Bill English, who was with Mr McClay to make the announcement in Auckland, said it was the first time the entire list of trade initiatives had been brought together.
"We hope to have significant success to help the export sector," he said.
"Labour wants to renegotiate TPP11 - if that happened, it would mean the end of it."
The list of targets for "high-quality and comprehensive" free trade agreements include:
* The European Union
* The United Kingdom (following Brexit)
* Sri Lanka
* Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay
Negotiations to be completed are:
* The Trans Pacific Partnership 11
* Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru (The Pacific Alliance)
Existing agreements to be upgraded with:
* China
* Singapore
* The Association of South East Asian Nations.
Mr McClay told reporters the European Union FTA negotiations could start later this year and he wanted to complete all those that are underway within the next three years.
"We can't say we will take five or 10 years to negotiate deals... this isn't too ambitious."
| A Beehive release || August 21, 2017 |||
