New Zealand has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese canned tomatoes, handing Wattie's a win in a rare trade defence case that highlights the delicate balance Wellington is trying to strike between protecting local industry and maintaining its crucial relationship with Beijing.
The decision, reported by Newsroom, comes after Wattie's, the iconic New Zealand food brand, complained that Chinese producers were flooding the market with artificially cheap canned tomatoes, undercutting local production.
New Zealand doesn't do this often. The country has a strong free-trade identity and is deeply economically integrated with China, its largest trading partner. Slapping duties on Chinese goods is the kind of move that gets noticed in Beijing.
But Wattie's had the data to back up its claim. Chinese canned tomatoes were being sold in New Zealand at prices below their cost of production, the classic definition of dumping. The government's investigation found evidence of material injury to the domestic industry.
So Wellington acted, imposing duties designed to level the playing field.
On the surface, it's a straightforward trade defence case. Scratch deeper, and it's a window into New Zealand's increasingly complicated economic relationship with China.
New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, back in 2008. That deal has been enormously profitable for New Zealand, opening up Chinese markets for dairy, meat, and wine. now accounts for nearly 30% of exports.
