The EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: Implications for the EU's Global Standing

Trade has long been considered 'the principal instrument of foreign policy for the EU' (Sapir, 1998, 726). Bossuyt et al. (2020) argued that differences between EU trade and foreign policy were growing, highlighting an apparent lack of 'synergetic coherence between the trade and foreign policy realms in the EU' (Bossuyt, 2020). However, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) can be seen as the European Union's attempt to integrate trade policy into its foreign policy objectives. For example, the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (2021) emphasized the significance of securing FTA deals with 'like-minded' countries in the region. This paper examines the nexus between the EU’s trade and foreign policies and their potential impact using the EU-NZ FTA as a case study. Arguably, the success of EU foreign policy relies on positive reception from third countries. This study presents New Zealand's perceptions of the EU and the EU-NZ FTA. The methodology involves a two-fold approach: firstly, employing a systematic media analysis to explore how the New Zealand media portrays the FTA; and secondly, conducting 30 interviews with key figures in New Zealand across three cohorts: government, business, and journalists. The paper reveals an increasing inclination of the EU towards Non-Trade Policy Objectives (NTPOs) (Borchert et al., 2021). Yet, the New Zealand case study shows that the FTA's impact on local perceptions of the EU was less significant than anticipated, despite considerable efforts by the EU and its 27 EU Member States to incorporate New Zealand's preferences. This can be attributed to historical conflicts and a perceived lack of accommodation by the EU in certain sectors.