Major economic reforms
Early in the 1980s, the Muldoon Government began to take some major steps. A free trade agreement (CER) was signed with Australia in 1983 and a process of removing import licensing was introduced. The fourth Labour government accelerated the removal of import protection and tariff reductions after 1984. This gradual liberalisation(3) of New Zealand's trade has continued to date. CER has blossomed into a single market between NZ and Australia.
These unilateral trade policy changes became incorporated into New Zealand's official position on Trade Policy published in 1992 and enunciated in the multi-track approach of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: