New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has strongly opposed the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), calling it a "bad deal" that is "neither free nor fair" for New Zealand.
In a strongly worded post on X, Peters said the agreement gives away too much -- particularly on immigration -- while failing to secure meaningful gains for New Zealanders, especially in the crucial dairy sector.
He said that his New Zealand First party had urged its coalition partner, the National Party, not to rush into concluding what it described as a "low-quality" agreement and instead use the full parliamentary term to negotiate a better deal.
According to Peters, when Cabinet approval for the FTA was sought last week, New Zealand First invoked the "agree to disagree" provision in the coalition agreement and made it clear it would vote against the enabling legislation when it comes before Parliament.
Peters said the agreement would be New Zealand's first trade deal to exclude major dairy products such as milk, cheese and butter, despite these exports being worth around NZ$24 billion -- about 30 percent of total goods exports -- in the year to November 2025.
While New Zealand would fully open its market to Indian products, India would retain significant tariff barriers on New Zealand dairy, he said.
"This is not a good deal for New Zealand farmers and is impossible to defend to our rural communities," Peters said.
He also criticised what he described as serious concessions unrelated to trade, particularly around immigration and labour mobility.
Peters claimed New Zealand has offered India greater per capita access to its labour market than Australia or the United Kingdom did in their FTAs with India, a move he said is risky given current unemployment and economic pressures.
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