Businesses, Luxon, call on parties to ‘get on board’ with the India FTA

Monday, 13 April 2026

Winston Peters has called out a business advocacy group for running full-page newspaper ads encouraging politicians to support the yet-to-be-finalised NZ-India free-trade agreement.

BusinessNZ placed the ads, featuring an open letter to political parties, in The Post and NZ Herald on Monday. The letter was co-signed by 28 other organisations, including major exporters like Zespri and representative groups such as Federated Farmers and New Zealand Winegrowers.

“The reduction in barriers secured in this FTA will directly benefit sectors such as horticulture, sheep meat, seafood, wine, honey, wood products, seeds and natural fibres, machinery, digital technology, and services, unlocking new opportunities for growth,” the letter reads.

“We call on all parties across Parliament to uphold New Zealand’s bipartisan approach to trade by supporting the agreement.

The agreement, which was reached in principle in December, still needs Parliament’s support to ratify it.

Peters has made it clear his party will not vote in favour, meaning National and ACT need Labour’s backing to seal the deal.

But those negotiations are ongoing, with Labour leader Chris Hipkins telling reporters last week his party is still waiting for pertinent information from ministers.

In a social media post on Monday afternoon, the New Zealand First leader said BusinessNZ’s move was “breathtaking” and “tantamount to … signing a contract blindfolded.”

“How they and the 28 other businesses and associations could have signed up to support the India FTA without knowing what is in it is an appalling commentary on them all,” Peters wrote.

“How on earth can there be any sort of proper analysis of the FTA if they haven’t even read the agreement? This is the question my office asked BusinessNZ last week and we still have yet to receive a response.”

When Stuff asked BusinessNZ for a response to Peters’ post, we received a statement noting they were “part of a business-led delegation to India in 2023”.

“Since then, BusinessNZ has been regularly updated by the Minister of Trade and trade officials with briefings along the way. We have every confidence that this deal is in the best interest of New Zealand's exporters and the wider economy,” the statement read.

Luxon: ‘Get on board, it’s pretty simple’

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked about the exchange at his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday.

“Oh, get on board. It's pretty simple. This is a fantastic deal for New Zealanders. Trade is not a political issue. It never has been. It's always been bipartisan. And this is really about something that's going to have huge benefit for Kiwis,” he said.

Asked about Labour’s support for the agreement, he acknowledged there has been back and forth.

“There's been a series of letters. There's been very constructive and good conversations undertaken with, I think, a tremendous amount of goodwill. We've made our ministers and officials available to the Labour side, in many meetings. … It's just essentially alleviating their concerns that they may be raising, and helping them understand why we think this is such a fantastic deal.”

But it doesn’t seem as though Labour’s concerns have been alleviated just yet.

Speaking to media last Wednesday, Hipkins said they are still waiting on information.

“We did have an opportunity for a few of our MPs to review some documentation. But it wasn't all the documentation we asked for,” he said.

“At this point, they still haven't actually addressed the substantive issues. We're getting a lot of reassurances, but the reassurance isn't backed up by any facts.”

Hipkins previously said the information he has seen about whether the agreement caps the number of Indian international students allowed to work in New Zealand is not consistent with public statements made by Luxon and Trade Minister Todd McLay.

Until that – and the detail around a commitment to increase private sector investment by US$20 billion over 15 years – is cleared up, “we're not likely to be in a position to make a final decision,” Hipkins said.