Heather du Plessis-Allan
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
China has reportedly sanctioned four New Zealand MPs for visiting Taiwan last month.
So after they came back from the visit, New Zealand First's David Wilson, Labour's Duncan Webb, National's Maureen Pugh and ACT's Laura McClure were told by our Parliament's clerk that they'd been banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau for a year, unless they apologise.
Laura McClure is with us.
Hi, Laura.
Good morning, Heather.
Surprise, or were you expecting it?
Have you spoken to the others, the three others?
Are they going to apologise?
Do you think that other MPs are in the future going to be put off going to Taiwan at the risk of this happening to them?
Without making light of what China is doing here, because it's kind of a form of coercion, isn't it?
Is a year-long ban enough to put people off?
Yeah, Laura, thanks very much for talking us through it.
The Trump administration is threatening new tariffs on more than 50 countries, and that includes New Zealand.
The levy's proposed at 12.5%, which is higher than the 10% we are currently paying.
It's being justified on the grounds that we are not doing enough to stop forced labour.
Todd McClay is the Trade Minister and is with us.
Morning, Todd.
Did you see this coming?
Okay, so is this a case of we get rid of one tariff, we fight it off, and another one will just pop up with some other reason for it?
Can we fight this one off?