Latest / Best of Business / Scott Brown: former US ambassador to New Zealand on how the nation can respond to Trump tariffs

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Scott Brown: former US ambassador to New Zealand on how the nation can respond to Trump tariffs · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks ed be
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  Speaker 2: Right Rich Trump has well. He is set to speak
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  Speaker 2: with leaders of Canada and Mexico in just a few hours.
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  Speaker 2: It comes as both of those countries announced they will
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  Speaker 2: impose tariffs and retaliation. China, which has also been in
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  Speaker 2: the news and hit by the tariffs, has said it'll
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  Speaker 2: take the case to the World Trade Organization. Scott Brown
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  Speaker 2: is a former US Ambassador to New Zealand. Scott good evening, Well,
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  Speaker 2: good evening to you, Scott. Great to have you on
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  Speaker 2: the show. As always, is this phone call? Are these
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  Speaker 2: phone calls going to change anything?
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  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, of course, it's part of the process. I
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  Speaker 3: mean we have already been seeing success. Obviously, we saw
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  Speaker 3: it with some of the people that were here illegally
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  Speaker 3: being returned to a country and the President said that
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  Speaker 3: he would impose tariffs and other things in the president
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  Speaker 3: reversed his course. I think it was Columbia, if I'm
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  Speaker 3: not mistaken. That being said, we have a porous border,
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  Speaker 3: not only in Mexico but in Canada as well, and
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  Speaker 3: the fentanyl's coming through people who are not supposed to
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  Speaker 3: be there are coming through, and the President's been asking
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  Speaker 3: for quite a while to you know, close the border
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  Speaker 3: and allow for the stay in Mexico policy and a
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  Speaker 3: whole host of other things. And the reason that tariffs
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  Speaker 3: are a tool, one of the tools in the toolbox
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  Speaker 3: is that, you know, there's some of these products that
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  Speaker 3: are in other countries. We're being taxed to death, and
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  Speaker 3: yet they're coming into our countries at a much lesser rate.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a mechanism, it's a tool. You know. I'm
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  Speaker 3: sure that they'll ultimately work it out.
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  Speaker 2: Are you guys happy, I mean, are Republicans happy to
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  Speaker 2: pay more for goods and services if it means if
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  Speaker 2: it allows Trump to do this, because that's the outcome, right.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it could be sure. Yeah, if we're talking about
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  Speaker 3: national security and we get to pay a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more from milk or cheese or butter, yeah, of course
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  Speaker 3: we're okay with that, because you know, we have to
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  Speaker 3: secure a border, we have to stop the flow of sentinel.
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  Speaker 3: It's killing you know, the next generation of people, and
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  Speaker 3: they're not listening, so well we're going to make them listen.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's important to get those two issues
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  Speaker 3: especially resolved.
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  Speaker 2: Do you reckon that the Mexicans actually have the capability
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  Speaker 2: to stop the flow of migrants infentional.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they certainly have a mechanism they did before to
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  Speaker 3: keep them staying in Mexico policy. Right now, the cartels
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  Speaker 3: are obviously controlling the way more than they did during
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  Speaker 3: President Trump's previous term. That's why he's designated them, designated
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  Speaker 3: them a terrorist organization, so they can actually be more
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  Speaker 3: aggressive in stopping the cartels. I would argue and suggest,
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  Speaker 3: as in the year's path, it would be a joint
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  Speaker 3: effort not only with the US, but with Mexico to
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  Speaker 3: you know, on both sides of the border to secure it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I believe they have the tools and resources to do so.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, this is at the moment seems to be very
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  Speaker 2: much about fental I mean, regardless of whether Trump has
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  Speaker 2: wider reasons for doing this, at the moment, the stated
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  Speaker 2: is a fentional and migration. Does that mean that we
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  Speaker 2: should not worry because you know, we're not big on
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  Speaker 2: exporting fintional from New Zealand. It's more you know, shading
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  Speaker 2: beef products, dairy products.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, Well, first of all, hello to everybody. I've
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  Speaker 3: been actually speaking with your new ambassador elect, and no,
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  Speaker 3: listen to sixteen billion dollars of trade. It's relatively even.
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  Speaker 3: I have not heard anything to say that, oh, what,
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  Speaker 3: We're going to impose tariffs on New Zealand. Obviously we
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  Speaker 3: have the milk and dairy and that issue that's always
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  Speaker 3: been there. You know. I'm hopeful that the new ambassador
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  Speaker 3: will pursue a free trade agreement with New Zealand as
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  Speaker 3: has been since the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen
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  Speaker 3: hundreds presidents past. Yeah, we need to do it, and
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  Speaker 3: I know Winston Peters is working in a hrclean way
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  Speaker 3: to get that done. He did with me and we're
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  Speaker 3: able to do the Kiwi Act and then he's done
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  Speaker 3: other things with as you'd all as well. And it's
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  Speaker 3: really important to get a free trade agreement with New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand and I'm one hundred percent behind it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but doesn't that not fly on the fight because
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you, it'll be fantastic, But doesn't that
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  Speaker 2: fly in the face of Trump's I mean, he's called
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  Speaker 2: himself missedter tariff, you know, and IFTI in New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: would seem to fly on the fight of that wouldn't.
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  Speaker 3: It no, because you know, when you're talking about the
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  Speaker 3: tariff issue itself, it's because we're not getting fair access
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  Speaker 3: to other countries. And we are with New Zealand, it's
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  Speaker 3: a pretty balanced trade. But with China, you know, they
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  Speaker 3: you know, the free speech issues for example. I mean
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  Speaker 3: they have for example, TikTok. They don't even allow it
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  Speaker 3: in their own country, but it's in our country. A
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  Speaker 3: lot of the goods that we want to have, whether
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  Speaker 3: it's cars or any type of manufacturing, you know, it's
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  Speaker 3: it's they don't allow it without massive terrafs. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: we just want a more free access to these markets
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  Speaker 3: that we allow in return. And you know, it could
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  Speaker 3: be any country. There's motorcycles, I believe in India or
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  Speaker 3: you know, there's all different types of things that you
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  Speaker 3: need to just make it fair. Let's compare in a
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  Speaker 3: let's battle on a fair basis. I think that's really
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  Speaker 3: the key.
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  Speaker 2: Scott. Thank you for the Scott Brown, former US Ambassador
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  Speaker 2: to New Zealand's.
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