‘Major worry’: Winston Peters says he fears India has been misled over trade deal
Thursday, 2 July 2026
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand-India relations are a “major worry” for him, after The Post confirmed the Government has decided to tighten immigration settings under the new free-trade agreement.
Peters first raised the changes in the House last week, accusing the National Party of “covertly” and in “bad faith” restricting immigration settings for India and India alone.
It’s his view India’s government is not aware the 5000 temporary employment entry (TEE) visas secured in the deal may not include spouses and children - as is the case under other free-trade agreements.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford insisted on Tuesday these changes were still “going through the process” before going on to confirm to The Post she had made “initial decisions”.
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The Post understands from an official source that policy work to implement these changes is already under way, and that some in the Government are worried about this news becoming public ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month.
Modi has touted the Indian side’s immigration gains in the New Zealand India Free-Trade Agreement (FTA).
But Peters said New Zealand and India have different understandings of these gains.
“In these [immigration] papers all the civil servants are saying, 'please don't let this get out before Modi comes here’. Now, excuse me, is that implication of transparency? Don't let Modi know? For goodness' sake.”
He asked if he was worried about New Zealand-India relations.
“That's my major worry. It's a matter of fidelity. I'm not going to see [Indian Foreign Minister] Jaishankar, who I know very, very well and have him look me in the face and say I wasn't honest with him.”
Peters denied agitating relations by raising concerns about the immigration changes, having earlier claimed the deal’s 5000 visa holders could translate into 20,000 people once spouses and children were included.
“That's absolute rubbish. Fidelity, transparency is critical here.”
Trade Minister Todd McClay last week said Peters was “wrong” about the immigration changes, going as far as accusing the New Zealand First leader of “promoting misinformation for the sake of gaining votes”.
Peters wouldn’t criticise McClay or Stanford on Thursday, saying people would come to their own conclusions.
“I'm not doing this to personalities. This is about a trade deal and inter-country relations. That's my responsibility. I'm not interested in political personalities and their ambitions and aspirations or their mistakes, I'm interested in this country's reputation. That's my responsibility.”
Finance Minister Nicola Willis backed the Government’s handling of the FTA on Thursday.
“Ultimately this is a really positive step forward for the New Zealand-India relationship, and it's been well understood that there are differences of opinion within the coalition on the free trade agreement.
“We've been upfront about that with the Indian administration and really what we have to keep our eyes focused on here is the prize, which is a significant step up in our trading relationship with India that creates opportunities for both populations.”
She said Peters’ position on the FTA was hard to follow.
“Initially I'd understood that New Zealand First's position was that they didn't like the free trade agreement because it didn't have enough immigration restrictions.
“Now it seems to be their position that they don't like the free trade agreement because the Government is imposing immigration restrictions, which we had maintained throughout are within our sovereign powers, so we're simply doing what we said we would be able to do, and now that we're doing it Mr Peters seems to be taking issue with it.
“So look, his position to me seems inherently somewhat contradictory.”