Labour Sides With Far Left On Trade Policy

  • Dr Lockwood Smith
International Trade

Trade Minister Lockwood Smith says the Labour Party has sided with the far-left ideological fringe with its attack today on APEC.

"Ms Clark says that APEC has run out of steam. She's wrong. APEC continues to provide an effective forum for 21 economies in our region to come together to discuss approaches to trade liberalisation. In condemning its trade liberalisation work, Ms Clark is turning her back on the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders involved in our export industries, not to mention every consumer in New Zealand.

"But APEC is much more than just trade liberalisation. In 1999, APEC will also look at how to harmonise customs procedures, and make it easier for business people and their products to move between economies. These are practical steps that will help New Zealand business. APEC also provides assistance to developing economies to strengthen their economic infrastructure.

"Clark's comments reflect the Labour Party's courtship of the far-left ideological fringe. Her comments mirror those of the extreme academics, professional protesters and student politicians leading the anti-APEC movement. These people are not representative of mainstream New Zealand, and especially not of those business-people and workers whose livelihoods depend on our success as a trading nation.

"As Trade Minister, I have been meeting with exporters in our major cities, provincial centres and rural communities. The overwhelming feeling out there is that this Government has got it right - that we must continue to remove barriers to trade.

"The Labour Party's answer to economic growth is to raise tax and to put companies on the dole. From today's outburst, we can assume that Labour also has an aversion to trade liberalisation.

"Helen Clark needs to be careful. She runs the risk of being hypocritical at the very time the Labour Party's trade spokesperson is running for Directorship of the World Trade Organisation - an organisation dedicated to the liberalisation of world trade.