New Zealand, Australia speak to other countries on buttressing free trade

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said at a press conference he will be talking to other world leaders in series of calls on Thursday to make the case for free trade, but he did not say which leaders he intended to speak with.

In a speech on Thursday he said one idea was for members of the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to work together.

International trade has been upended by U.S. President Donald Trump who announced sweeping tariffs last week on dozens of countries, which were met by retaliatory tariffs by many of them, triggering massive volatility in markets.

In a stunning reversal, on Wednesday Trump said he would temporarily suspend the hefty tariffs he had imposed on most countries.

Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong said government ministers had held discussions with Southeast Asian nations, Japan, Korea, India and the EU about a joint response to U.S. tariffs.

"There is a group of countries who see the benefit of free and open and fair trade," she said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC.

Luxon said in a speech his phone calls would be an opportunity to compare notes on global trade and discuss what countries can do together to buttress the rules-based trading system as a path to prosperity.

"One possibility is that members of the CPTPP and the European Union work together to champion rules-based trade and make specific commitments on how that support plays out in practice," he said in a speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

The CPTPP countries include Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and the UK.

Luxon added he was heading to the United Kingdom later in April to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to talk trade, security, and the geopolitical.

“We can’t make the case for New Zealand sitting at home,” he said. “We have to position ourselves as advocates both for our own economic interests and the institutions that underpin them.”

Trump has imposed a 10-percent tariff on Australia and New Zealand, the low end of his tariffs for all imports into the United States. Wellington and Canberra have both said they will not retaliate. About 12 percent of New Zealand's and five percent of Australia's exports went to the U.S. last year.