Stalemate between Labour and National on India FTA over what constitutes ‘advice’
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
The two-month stalemate in negotiation over the India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) appears to be stuck over how Labour and National see Government “advice”.
National is arguing that providing in-person briefings from officials is sufficient to answer any questions Labour has about the deal, while Labour wants to see full and unredacted written advice.
National needs Labour’s support to pass the FTA agreed to with India last year, as NZ First has exercised its “agree to disagree” powers and will vote against it.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has said he does not want to play “chicken” with the Government on the issue but has yet to receive a satisfactory response to requests he first made of the Government two months ago.
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These include copies of the official advice behind the deal, and in particular clarity over a requirement that New Zealand businesses invest NZD$33 billion in India over 15 years, and visa settings.
A suite of business lobby groups intervened in the stalemated negotiations this week, releasing an open letter calling on all parties to support the deal.
Hipkins said he was still waiting for a copy of the advice public servants provided to the Government, before making a decision.
“Once we’ve received the details and worked through all the advice, we will discuss as a caucus and make a decision about whether to support the legislation. It is deeply disappointing to see Christopher Luxon play politics with our free trade agreements and delay progress, when he can’t get agreement from his own Cabinet and coalition partners.”
Trade Minister Todd McClay said the Government had been engaging with Labour for four months - and had provided briefings from officials where they could provide advice.
'We've had four months of engaging extensively with Labour on this. This includes phone calls, in-person meetings and sessions where officials were able to answer their questions and provide the information they asked for, including official advice,“ McClay said.
But Hipkins said these briefings had not provided sufficient and unredacted advice across the wide range of issues within the FTA.
“We have been engaging constructively with the Government and prioritising our responses to ensure there are no delays at our end. At this stage, the Government still haven’t answered several significant issues we have raised. Until they have done so we are not in a position to consider whether or not we will support the deal.”
McClay earlier rejected the call for advice as “fishing” by Labour.
It’s understood that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote to Hipkins on Friday and Hipkins responded on Monday, setting out his requests in more detail.
Luxon has been critical of Labour’s position on the trade deal, telling Newstalk ZB on Monday National had helped Labour pass trade deals when in Opposition.
“It's actually not to do with National or Labour or left or right or any of that stuff. It's actually about what is the right thing to do for New Zealand.”
Polling suggests the India FTA has strong support in New Zealand.