Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

New Zealand's Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF), administered by Grow Regions, approved a loan of up to NZD 35 million to Wellington-based fusion-energy startup OpenStar Technologies. The loan funds a purpose-built research facility for OpenStar's next-generation fusion machine ("Tahi"), intended to scale up its R&D programme, attract further international investment and anchor high-value engineering jobs in New Zealand. The government frames the measure as a strategic bet on fusion as a potential long-term energy-security and economic asset.

The Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 (No 81 of 2025) is the largest rewrite of New Zealand's Overseas Investment Act 2005 since the 2018 residential-land amendment. The Bill (Government Bill 171) was introduced by the Minister of Finance in June 2025, passed all three readings in the House of Representatives, received Royal Assent on 19 December 2025, and was brought into force on 6 March 2026 by the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 Commencement Order 2026 (SL 2026/2). The Act replaces the OIA's residual "investor test" discretion with a single statutory national-interest test applied to all "sensitive asset" transactions, introduces a new s 29B repeat-investor mechanism (Treasury does not re-litigate investor risk factors on subsequent applications outside strategically important businesses), creates new military / dual-use technology call-in transactions and critical-direct-supplier call-in transactions (amended s 85), and adds a no-change-of-control transaction category. Administered by The Treasury (policy lead) and Toitū Te Whenua LINZ (operations / case handling), with consent decisions issued by the responsible Ministers.

New Zealand's 33rd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 designated 65 "shadow fleet" tanker vessels involved in transporting Russian-origin crude oil, together with seven entities and two individuals based in Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Iran that refine or transport Russian oil or facilitate oil-related payments. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on the supply of services (including port access, insurance, chartering and cargo handling) by New Zealand persons. The measure targets the revenue chain funding Russia's war in Ukraine rather than imposing a new tariff or trade-flow control.

New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment published the 5th edition of the Government Procurement Rules, effective 1 December 2025, replacing the prior "broader outcomes" framework with a new Rule 8 mandating that agencies "seek economic benefits to New Zealand" in every procurement above the standard thresholds (NZD 100,000 for goods/services and refurbishment works; NZD 9 million for construction works). Agencies must set out their economic-benefit expectations in the Notice of Procurement, apply a minimum 10% evaluation weighting to economic-benefit criteria, write delivery commitments into contracts, and monitor and report on delivery. Global Trade Alert logs the measure as a "certainly harmful" discriminatory public-procurement, nes intervention given its effect of favouring New Zealand-based suppliers over foreign bidders. The 4th edition rules continue to apply to contracts entered before 1 December 2025, including existing All-of-Government panels and syndicated contracts.

New Zealand's 32nd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 (Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 4) 2025, SL 2025/195) lowered the price cap on Russian-origin crude oil (HS 2709) from US$60/bbl to US$47.60/bbl, a roughly 21% cut, aligning New Zealand with the EU, UK and Canada's most recent price-cap reductions. The same instrument designated 19 individuals and entities plus 19 vessels, including Russia's GRU cyber unit 29155 (implicated in malware attacks on Ukrainian government networks), actors involved in chemical-weapons use and disinformation, additional "shadow fleet" tankers, alternative payment providers, and third-country facilitators based in North Korea and Iran supporting Russia's war effort.

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 (Act No. 40 of 2025), receiving Royal Assent on 5 August 2025, reverses the April 2018 Ardern-government offshore petroleum exploration ban by removing the prohibition on new offshore exploration permits beyond onshore Taranaki, re-opening New Zealand's Taranaki, East Coast, and Deepwater basins to international oil and gas investors. The Act simultaneously amends the purpose of the Crown Minerals Act 1991 from "sustainably manage" to "promote" prospecting, exploration, and mining of Crown-owned minerals — a fundamental posture shift from conservation to production. Additional provisions restructure the decommissioning-liability regime by granting the Minister of Resources discretion to re-assign liability to former permit holders, extend the confidentiality period for speculative-prospecting data by six years, and introduce a new Tier 3 permit category for small-scale non-commercial gold mining.

New Zealand Customs Service, acting under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988, published Tariff Concession Approvals, Withdrawals and Declines Notice (No. 17) 2025 in the Gazette on 4 July 2025. The notice grants new duty-free tariff concessions on goods across tariff items 3919-9405 (adhesive tapes and films, fibreglass products, industrial machinery, heating/cooling equipment, electronic controls and marine vessels) not manufactured domestically, effective 1 July 2025, while withdrawing a comparable set of prior concession approvals effective 30 June 2025. This is a routine, periodic administrative tariff-concession cycle rather than a discrete policy announcement.

New Zealand Customs Service, acting under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988, published Tariff Concession Approvals, Withdrawals and Declines Notice (No. 18) 2025 in the Gazette on 4 July 2025. The notice withdraws 16 previously approved duty-free tariff concessions spanning laminated films, building panels, filtering and aggregate-processing equipment, thermostatic valves, railway safety systems and anti-pollution barriers, effective 14 days from publication, with importers given one calendar month to lodge objections. This is a routine, periodic administrative tariff-concession withdrawal cycle rather than a discrete policy announcement.

New Zealand's Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 3) 2025, made under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022, came into force on 19 June 2025 designating seven entities and ten individuals -- including North Korean, Iranian and Belarusian actors supporting Russia's war effort and Russian actors involved in drone and weaponry production. The same instrument created a new "restricted ship" category under Regulation 8 and sanctioned 27 vessels in Russia's shadow fleet under it, and expanded the Regulation 12 legal-services exception. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on New Zealand persons supplying services to them.

New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), under Resources Minister Hon Shane Jones, launched the country's first national Minerals Strategy and first Critical Minerals List on 31 January 2025 at OceanaGold's Waihi gold mining operation in Hauraki. The Critical Minerals List identifies 37 minerals essential to New Zealand's economy, national security, and technology needs — including gold and metallurgical coal added in the final version (up from 35 minerals in the September 2024 draft consultation). The Minerals Strategy sets a target of doubling New Zealand mineral exports from approximately NZD 1.2 billion/year to NZD 3 billion by 2035, supported by a Wood Mackenzie advisory assessment (December 2024) that identified 21 of the 37 listed minerals as domestically produced or having domestic production potential.