US trade relations with NZ were frozen in 2003 over our refusal to send armed troops to Iraq, for starters.

and yeah, we had a free market blitz in the late 80s.. which was addressed by the subsequent Labour govt (led by a woman, no less, as was the Opposition at the time) adopting the MMP political approach instead of the FPP (First Past the Post system).

which is how we ended up with the Green Party sharing power with Labour for four years. and why we had the worlds first Rastafarian MP, and the worlds first transsexual MP. (not surprising considering we were also the first country to give women the vote.. oh, and actually we entered a partnership with our native people, which is still being honoured today, instead of simply slaughtering, marginalising and forgetting about them.)

this is all more than can be said for Canada, a country which still blindly follows the partisan policies of the US on almost everything.

research, skippy. it helps.

edit: and your bitchass little edit- adding 'NZ' to that post up there in a vain effort not to make yourself appear so stupid- is pretty fucken lame.

once your lackey of a country abandons the US voting style of FPP, and joins us progressive countries in multi-party democracies, then you might have an argument.. of sorts.