New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters has called the newly announced free trade agreement (FTA) with India a “bad deal”, criticising it for not being “free or fair” and warning that his party will oppose the deal when it comes up in Parliament.
Posting on social media platform X, Peters said, “New Zealand First is regrettably opposed to the India Free Trade Agreement announced today. We consider the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement to be neither free nor fair.”
He said the deal is bad for New Zealand, as it “gives too much away”, especially on the immigration front. He said the deal does not get enough in return for the citizens of New Zealand, including on dairy.
“New Zealand First urged its coalition partner not to rush into concluding a low-quality deal with India, and to use all three years of this Parliamentary cycle in order to get the best possible deal. We also indicated we felt it would be unwise for National to sign up to a deal with India when a Parliamentary majority for that deal was uncertain,” Peters said in his statement.
New Zealand First is regrettably opposed to the India Free Trade Agreement announced today.
We consider the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement to be neither free nor fair.
Regrettably, this is a bad deal for New Zealand. It gives too much away, especially on immigration,…
— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) December 22, 2025
He argued that the deal is not catered towards New Zealand farmers, saying that this is the first trade deal for the country to exclude major dairy products, including milk, cheese and butter. In the year to November 2025, New Zealand exports of these products were worth around $24 billion, or 30% of the total goods exports, he said.
Speaking of concerns beyond trade, Peters said that India FTA includes far-reaching immigration concessions, focused on creating employment visas for Indian migrants. He argued that New Zealand has always offered India greater access to its labour market as compared to Australia or the UK despite the ongoing economic pressures in the country.
Peters further said that these concerns have been raised with his Indian counterpart, EAM S Jaishankar, making New Zealand’s position clear on the matter.
“We have known S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, for a long time, and have the utmost respect for him as an international statesman and champion of New Zealand-India relations. We have communicated to Minister Jaishankar New Zealand First’s position on this matter,” he said.
