National welcomes release of TPP agreement text

National’s Trade spokesperson Todd McClay has welcomed confirmation that the significant gains won for New Zealand during the past decade of TPP negotiations have been protected, with the release of the finalised agreement today.

“Signing the TPP will have huge benefits for New Zealand exporters and that’s why we worked so hard for so many years to get the agreement over the line – in spite of fierce opposition from Labour and NZ First,” Mr McClay says.

“It will mean significantly improved access for our exporters to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world and will put our businesses in an even better position to succeed on the international stage.

“What the release of the text has also shown is that the Labour Party’s flimsy justification for leading protests against the deal only to completely flip its position and sign it while in Government were complete spin.

“As the text has shown there are few differences between the original TPP and the CPTPP.

“For example the market access provisions remain the same – in spite of Labour previously claiming they weren’t good enough, the Government can still be sued by foreign corporations, the side letter we signed with Australia restricting that ability remains and the Treaty of Waitangi protections the National Party negotiated remain in place.

“So as we can see the TPP was a good deal when the National Government negotiated and signed it and it’s still a good deal now.

“Labour and NZ First might have changed the name, but it’s still the same deal.”

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