“I see Donald Trump as an opportunity,” he told the Future Farms conference.
He gave the example of Mexico which had stopped buying from the US, particularly in dairy products.
That created an opportunity for New Zealand to move in.
But it also created risks at the US companies tried to replace the lost Mexican trade by pushing more of their products into Asia to compete with NZ.
Proudfoot then suggested Britain would be an ideal “cornerstone” partner to replace the US in the TPP.
It was a country going out on its own as it left the European Union and had a desire to promote global trade.
And he warned Trump’s anti-climate change agenda might divert production from biofuel with a lot of sidelined products instead providing cheap feed for US dairy cows.
