China FTA

The New Zealand and China Free Trade Agreement, which was signed on April 7, 2008, is expected to come into force on October 1, 2008 subject to completion of parliamentary processes needed to ratify the treaty. As indicated in the table below, tariffs on wine from New Zealand will be eliminated by 2012. By contrast, U.S. wine exports to China will continue to be assessed the base rate shown below. China ranks as New Zealand's 15th largest market for wine exports but exports have more than doubled in just two years.