Borders and Battles: How Trade and Security have intertwined to define the United States-New Zealand relationship, from 1940 to 2014

• Author: Rachael Harris
• Position: Washington Congressional Internee 2012 in the Office of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)
• Pages: 164-181

164

BORDERS AND BATTLES: HOW TRADE AND SECURITY

HAVE INTERTWINED TO DEFINE THE UNITED STATES-

NEW ZE ALAND RELATIONSHIP, FROM 1940 TO 2014

R H*

I. I

is year marks the centenary of the dening global conict of the early

21st Century, the First World War. It is tting at this time to consider our

contemporary defence arrangements, our allies, and our global friends, and

how these relationships have been formed. New Zealand and the United

States as Pacic neighbours have always had a close relationship, one based

predominately on mutual security ties throughout the latter half of the 20th

Century and the begi nning of the 21st. While Americ a has always considered

security policy to be the most crucial facet of the US-NZ relationship, New

Zealand, on the other hand, ha s considered trade strategy as a more and more

important factor in dening relations w ith our largest Pacic neighbour. is

paper explores in three parts how secu rity and defence, and trade are the most

important characterising policy factors of the New Zealand-United States

(NZ-US) relationship.

e rst section will explain how historically, security concerns have

underpinned the NZ-US relationship from the Second World War to the

disintegration of the ANZUS pact in 1985. e American ‘Invasion’ of New

Zealand in 1942 saw the beginning of the modern relationship, with the

two nations forced together against a common enemy. is pattern would

continue through to the Korean and Vietnam conicts, when New Zealand

and America found themselves as staunch allies in the ght against National

Socialism, Fascism, and Communism. Arising from this shared military

engagement, the ANZUS pact was formed. e New Zealand-United States

relationship, however, would be aected forever with the annulment of

this pact due to the anti-nuclear crusade of the fourth Labour government.

During this period, America’s focus on security and defence would continue

to dene the NZ-US relationship.

e second section of this paper plots the track of the relationship in the

1990s and early 2000s. It will show how agai n security and defence remained

a crucial part of the American approach to New Zealand, despite the rise

of trade to the forefront of the New Zealand foreign relations agenda. For

the National governments of the 1990s, hard-won diplomatic yards were

*Washington Cong ressional Internee 2012 in the Oc e of Senator Max Baucus (D- MT). e

author wishes to th ank the University of Canter bury School of Law, the USNZ Counci l and

the team at the Ne w Zealand Embass y in Washington D.C.

165

side-lined by the anti-nuclear policy beloved by the nation. e early 2000s

would see the relationship stalled aga in by New Zealand’s refusal to enter the

Iraq War. e failure of the fth Labour government to secure a Free Trade

Agreement with the United States will be shown to be a direct consequence

of the Clark administration’s approach to key security issues.

e third section will jump to the contemporary st ate of the relationship –

described by those in power as ‘the new normal’. Crucially, trade and security

have merged even more closely in the form of the Trans Pacic Partnership

(TPP) agreement. e TPP, although controversial domestically in both

New Zealand and the United States for a number of factors, will allow New

Zealand access to the trading markets it has been striving towards for years.

For America, the TPP is a crucial part of its ‘rebalance’ towards Asia, its

strategy to combat the rise of China as a world super power. It will be shown

that the TPP is a culmination of the two policy factors that each nation gives

primacy – trade and security. is paper will conclude with a hope that as

New Zealand becomes pa rt of America’s security and defence strateg y against

the rise of China, New Zealand will nally get its wish, and that there will

be trade payos for our Pacic Island nation. Concerns will also be raised

regarding New Zealand’s potential future security obligations as a result of

the TPP.

II. ‘B C’  F  N M

B – T N Z – U S S

R   – 

From 1940 onwards, the New Zealand-United States relationship has

been dened by two key geopolitical i nuences – trade and security. Security,

in particular, has always been a crucial inuence; indeed the modern

relationship between New Zealand and the United States of America was

born out of World War II, a security crisis that was to change the world for

ever. As Pacic neighbours, the two open democracies were thrust together

on a worldwide scale for the rst signicant time when faced with a common

enemy – the Japanese. After the battle of Pearl Harbour in December 1941,

the Japanese had:1

…complete control of the Pacic for four months, during which time they conquered

the greater par t of the East Indies, the Phil ippines, and New Guinea, and kept t he Allies

guessing a s to (their) next objective.

e war in the Pacic was a very real concern to both the US and New

Zealand, and both nations were required to act to protect their security

interests.

1 Harry Bioletti e Yanks are Coming: e American Invasion of New Zealand 1942-1944

(Century Hutchi nson Ltd, Auckland, 1989) at 20.