Economic linkages between NZ and the US are growing and deepening rapidly despite the lack of a trade agreement.
The NZ-US Council engaged Sense Partners to collate the latest trade and investment data on the economic relationship between NZ and the US.
The US is NZ's third most important trading partner, with bilateral trade in goods and services of $27.6 billion - only 10% lower than NZ's trade with Australia. NZ's average export growth to the US has been 8.5% per year over the last decade, almost double that to the rest of the world.
As well our traditional pastoral products, NZ is increasingly exporting high-end consumer products such as wine and cosmetics, capital items like fruit sorting machines, hi-tech services, and uniquely Kiwi products like kiwifruit, Manuka honey and green-lipped mussels. The US is the source of much of NZ's imports of advanced transport and manufactured goods, and an important source of foreign investment.
Overall, the report shows that NZ and US economic linkages are thriving, and that while a trade agreement would be highly beneficial, its absence need not define the relationship.