In April, US President Donald Trump ordered a "list of priority partners" for arms transfers be drawn up within 60 days. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP
New Zealand officials say they do not know who is on the United States' list of priority partners for trading weapons with, and have had zero input to it.
In April, US President Donald Trump ordered a "list of priority partners" for arms transfers be drawn up within 60 days.
His directive talked about giving partners help with financing and more flexible contracts, but also of "priority" partners having to share the cost of production more - "strengthening allied burden-sharing".
New Zealand has joined several recent initiatives designed to boost America's military industrial base, but officials did not express any interest in the priority partner list.
"Given this is an internal US government directive, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is not aware of what countries are on this list," MFAT told RNZ.
"We would not speculate further."
US diplomatic missions were going to be updated about the priority list, Trump's directive said.
These US moves and others to free up space technology trade so far primarily benefit its AUKUS Pillar two partners Australia and the United Kingdom.
The NZ Defence Force is competing to get arms under its new $12 billion Defence Capability Plan in a world market where military spending is surging.
The NZDF talked with US lawmakers in April about potential opportunities to buy from the US, Official Information Act papers showed.
A foreign arms sales taskforce newly set up by Trump said it sought international input before launching its first six initiatives last month, including new legislation aimed to help lower the barriers that limit the proliferation of high-tech arms.
MFAT said: "New Zealand has not had any input into the taskforce."
Asked if the government was doing anything about getting on the priority list or helping local companies onto it, MFAT said: "New Zealand has not had any input into the US Foreign Arms Sales Task Force, including on the ITAR Licensing Reform Act.
"Officials are monitoring developments."
The move on ITAR - International Traffic in Arms Regulations - was designed to free up licensing of defence deals primarily between the AUKUS Pillar Two partners Australia, the US and UK, and possibly over time with Canada, official US papers said.
The US recently also moved to free up space-related trade, such as in satellites technology.
This has substantial overlap with defence but includes science and commercial sectors.
It was "taking a bold step forward in fostering a strong space industrial base", an official close to Trump said. "The changes will strengthen international alliances" while maintaining stringer controls on sensitive technology.
Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom were again at the front of the queue in these space trade moves, though Canada is not part of AUKUS.
However, one move - to remove licence requirements for exports of certain spacecraft components - applied to over 40 allies and partners. It is not clear if NZ was one of those.
The government here is closely attuned to the international space trade and has had talks with the US about streamlining and aligning regulations, papers showed.
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