Winston Peters Calls It “Neither Free Nor Fair” Over Dairy Snub and Immigration Giveaways, there’s some serious tension brewing in New Zealand politics right now over this fresh trade deal with India. It got announced just yesterday, December 22, 2025, after talks kicked off back in March and wrapped up super quick in nine months. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and India’s Narendra Modi are both hyping it as a big win—saying it’ll double trade between the two countries in five years, open up zero-duty access for all Indian goods into NZ, and bring in like $20 billion in Kiwi investments to India over 15 years.
But hold up—Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who’s also head of the coalition partner New Zealand First, is not having it. He’s straight-up calling it a “bad deal” that’s “neither free nor fair.” In a post on X and a bunch of statements, he laid into it hard, saying NZ is giving away way too much—especially on immigration stuff—and getting basically zilch back on the things that matter most, like dairy.
Dairy’s huge for New Zealand, you know? It’s their biggest export earner, worth around $14-24 billion a year depending on the numbers you look at, making up nearly 30% of all goods they ship out. Farmers and rural folks rely on it big time. Peters pointed out that this is the first trade agreement NZ has ever done that completely shuts out key dairy products like milk powder, cheese, and butter from any real market access in India. India’s keeping those high tariffs to protect their own farmers, which makes sense for them, but Peters says while NZ throws its doors wide open to everything from India, they’re not budging on dairy barriers. “This is not a good deal for New Zealand farmers and is impossible to defend to our rural communities,” he said.
He’s also fuming about the immigration side. Apparently, the deal includes a new employment visa just for Indian citizens, plus more access to NZ jobs on a per-person basis than what NZ got in deals with places like Australia or the UK. With unemployment rising at home, Peters calls it “deeply unwise” and a massive concession.
This is cracking open a real split in the coalition government. New Zealand First is invoking that “agree to disagree” rule, and Peters says his party will vote against the bill in Parliament. They warned the National Party not to rush this for political brownie points—Luxon made it an election promise—but yeah, here we are.
On the brighter side for supporters, there are gains for Kiwi stuff like fruit, wool, wine, timber, and some processed dairy re-exports. India’s getting full access to NZ markets, which helps their exporters big time.
Will it pass Parliament? Probably needs some opposition votes now. Farmers down there are likely pretty pissed.
Sources:
- NDTV
- India Today
- Times of India
- Reuters
- RNZ News
- The Indian Express
