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Do you know what the tariff is?
No I was never in exporting but I do know successive NZ governments have tried and failed to negotiate a FTA with USA.
There was a close call with the TPPA but Trump ditched US participation in it - it is still somewhat alive now with Japan, Australia, NZ and other Asia-Pacific countries going it alone without US involvement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership
https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/about-us/who-we-are/treaties/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-tpp
I would guess the US tariffs on NZ exports vary depending on product but pretty sure its mostly on the primary produce that is the bulk of what we export- dairy, red meats, seafoods, timber, and wine etc.
China loves all these products as they has a large need for imported food and at the same time can sell us the manufactured goods we need and cannot efficiently produce ourselves.
Watching the decimation of western produced manufactured goods has been frightening but its free trade and markets at work like it or not.
The wests ability to produce the wide range of manufactured goods that are needed to operate an economy has been dangerously depleted.
For NZ to lose supply of Chinese manufactured goods now would imply a huge increase in costs and inflation.
Economic dependency of NZ on China is now well advanced...and we are far from alone!
Just shocked why the USA is so hostile to NZ ag products.
Canada too- our dairy products are cheaper and arguably better quality than US and Canadian dairy products.
Producer lobbys in many countries everywhere have huge sway over their governments.
With our new FTA with India I understand there was huge resistance on dairy too because again we are simply more efficient producer than India but India have a powerful farmer lobby group.
But yeah it makes a mockery of US claims to be free trade advocate when US lobbys can so consistently block free trade with long time friendly nations like New Zealand.
A growing number of US traditional allies are now actively forming stronger trade groupings like the TPP as US goes increasingly protectionist...it is imo a lose lose outcome but one that US has chosen.
We do to the extent we can- USA is a big market now for our red meats, but USA has always refused to give us a Free Trade Agreement.
We have had an FTA with China since 2008- the first western democracy to gain one.
We have a FTA with Australia (since the 1980s) and Singapore and many other countries including recently India, but USA has always refused, probably because of the powerful farming lobby in the US.
Claims that USA is a free enterprise country simply is not credible from the point of view of New Zealand when USA has always put tariffs and or quotas on our exports there to protect its less efficient farmers.