The Pacific is either one of the most aid dependent regions in the world, or its countries are on the brink of graduating to developed country status, thanks to new trade deals like Pacer Plus. Depends who you talk to.

One thing is sure, the region is now a hotspot for global power plays - China, Taiwan, the US, Australia, Japan, Russia, even Israel and of course us, are all competing for influence. The Pacific is suffering donor fatigue with the number of times we’ve all ‘refreshed’, ‘reset’, and ‘stepped up’ the relationship.

To work out where Pacific development is headed, Josie Pagani is joined by Keawe Woodmore, senior Foreign Affairs offical overseeing the Pacific trade deal ‘Pacer Plus’, Peter Faafiu, a former trade negotiator and partner at Navigator Limited, and Barry Coates, trade campaigner and former Green MP.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand businesses need investment but is it getting harder to bring international investment to New Zealand – and does that matter? Do we have enough domestic capital now, with Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund, not to worry about foreign capital?

Our trade deals are not just about helping exports, they also focus on attracting investment.

Joining Josie Pagani to work out whether we have anything to worry about, is Executive Director of the New Zealand China Council Stephen Jacobi, lawyer and commentator Chen Palmer’s Mai Chen, and Director of Global Stakeholder affairs at Fonterra Simon Tucker.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josie Pagani talks to Jeff Schott, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, about the politics of trade in the US, what’s likely to happen next with trade wars, and the beleaguered WTO.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade has lifted more people out of poverty than almost anything else. So why is trade so political these days? Some of the left and the right have ended up in the same place – anti-establishment, anti trade deals, anti the World Trade Organisations (WTO) and pro subsidies (the left for solar panels and electric cars, the right for farming and fishing).

To look at the politics of trade, Josie Pagani is joined by Business Desk Editor Pattrick Smellie, CTU’s Sam Huggart, and Economist Peter Fraser for the latest podcast in the ‘On the Map’ series.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Peter Petri, a founder of the Brandeis School of Business in Boston and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute talks about the CPTPP and other deals. He says these deals won’t suddenly make your life better, but they will knit economies and cultures together, and that’s a good thing if the benefits are spread as widely as possible.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We pride ourselves on being a small trading nation that ‘punches above its weight’. But actually we’re not that good. Exports as a percentage of GDP are only around 28%, compared with about 60% in other small trading nations like Denmark. Ok, they’re much closer to markets, but we’re still way too dependent on commodities like milk powder and logs and low productivity sectors like tourism. How can trade deals help us make better stuff not just more stuff?

To look at the trade deals we have and the ones we’d like to get, New Zealand’s chief trade negotiator, MFAT’s Vangelis Vitali and NZ Herald Business Editor, Fran O’Sullivan joins Josie’s Pagani on this week’s podcast - The Devil's in the Detail.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump sends out a tweet instructing all American business to stop trading with China. If they did, it would break the global trading system overnight. Meanwhile countries like New Zealand need more friends and more trade deals, not less. But what kind of trade deals are best?

Economists Cameron Bagrie and Bill Rosenberg from Council of Trade Unions, as well as Export NZ CEO Catherine Beard, join Josie Pagani for this episode.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bonus episode with Soumaya Keynes, US Economics Editor for The Economist magazine. She says the collapse of the World Trade Organisation is imminent, and while Trump may be temporary, the damage done to the international trade system isn't.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The global economy is on a knife edge. Trade wars escalate. The World Trade Organisation limps on.

How does New Zealand stay out of trouble? Economists, Shamubeel Eaqub, former CEO of Xero Rod Drury, and NZ Herald’s Business Editor-at-Large, Liam Dann join Josie Pagani in ’Trade or Tragedy?'

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Map takes you into the world of trade wars, good deals and bad deals, and New Zealand’s place in the world.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.