New Zealand and Australia have agreed to allow the United States additional time to conclude an agreement with its sheepmeat industry which would result in the industry itself requesting that the safeguard be removed, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said today.

"Such a result would be the best possible outcome."

Mr Sutton said no further action would be taken by New Zealand and Australia against the United States till September 1.

"New Zealand has preserved its legal rights. We can still take this to arbitration if we think that the negotiation with the US industry is running out of steam. But we believe there are good prospects that it will not come to that."

Ends

© Scoop Media

Auckland will move to alert level three for a week at 6am tomorrow morning after two new Covid-19 community cases announced this evening could not be directly linked to earlier cases, the Prime Minister has confirmed.
The rest of the country will move to level two.... More>>

Gordon Campbell: On The Rivals For The Covid Saliva Testing Dollar

If you want a good insight into what the limits of tiny, barely discernible steps to reduce poverty actually look like, delve into the latest Statistics Department figures on poverty in New Zealand Most of the nine measures utilised reveal little or no progress in combatting poverty over the 21 months to March 2020... More>>