Prior to the mid-twentieth century, New Zealand's trade was dominated by the
United Kingdom which provided preferential trade quotas to her former colony. As the United Kingdom attempted to join the
European Economic Community in the 1960s and move away from trade with former colonies, New Zealand sought to diversify international trade. Following this, New Zealand signed its first bilateral free trade agreement in 1965 with the New Zealand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (later superseded by
Closer Economic Relations in 1983). When the United Kingdom eventually joined the European Economic Community in 1973, exceptions for New Zealand allowed the United Kingdom's preferential trade offerings to be phased out until the 1990s. Since the 1990s, New Zealand has pursued free trade agreements as part of
international trade policy with a goal (as of 2024) of 90% of exports covered by FTAs by 2030. New Zealand signed bilateral free trade agreements throughout the
Asia-Pacific region through the 2000s including with significant trading partners
China and the
ASEAN bloc. Free trade agreements have expanded in the 2010s and 2020s with New Zealand's participation in wide multilateral FTAs including the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. ==Free trade agreements in force==