Trade Reform in New Zealand: Unilateralism at Work

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to consider the political forces behind these tradereforms with an eye towards explaining the political success of the unilateral approach. We seek to provide some answers to the following sorts of question. What were the vested interests behind New Zealand's starting point of very high protection and how did they succeed in getting it implemented? Why were reforms mooted - what happened such that the early status quo was no longer politically feasible? Why did the trade reforms succeed (in the sense of being put in place) and how did that implementation occur so as to overcome these special interests? Why unilateralism? Why has liberalisation not been complete (especially as it has been so dramatic: one might think that the final steps would be easier in some sense)? How important were multilateral and bilateral deals in affecting New Zealand's unilateral reforms? How if at all has New Zealand's multilateral position been affected by these reforms?

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