*

NZ prime minister suggests European Union, Trans-Pacific

trade

partners could work together

*

Australian officials have held talks with Japan, India, EU

and

others

*

Australia, New Zealand face 10% Trump tariff

(Updates to reflect Luxon's calls with other leaders in

paragraphs 2-3, 8-9)

By Lucy Craymer, Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, April 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand and

Australia said on Thursday they are each working with other

nations on a possible joint response to shore up free trade

against a barrage of U.S. tariffs.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand said he had

spoken with the leaders of Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia, as

well as the head of the European Union's executive about

international trade cooperation.

In a speech on Thursday, Luxon floated the idea of members

of the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive

Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) working

together.

Global trade has been upended by U.S. President Donald Trump

who announced sweeping tariffs last week on dozens of countries,

which were met by retaliatory tariffs by some of them,

triggering massive volatility in markets.

In a stunning reversal on Wednesday, Trump said he would

suspend the hefty tariffs he had imposed on most countries for

90 days.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said government

ministers had held discussions with Southeast Asian nations,

Japan, Korea, India and the EU about a joint response to Trump's

tariffs.

"There is a group of countries who see the benefit of free

and open and fair trade," she said in an interview with state

broadcaster ABC.

In posts to X, Luxon said he held separate phone calls with

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Vietnamese Prime

Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar

Ibrahim on buttressing rules-based free trade to spur economic

growth.

He said he also spoke to European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen about "what the EU and New Zealand can do

together to support the trade rules that underpin Kiwi (New

Zealand) jobs and growth".

New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia are members of

the CPTPP, which also includes countries such as Australia,

Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Britain.

"One possibility is that members of the CPTPP and the

European Union work together to champion rules-based trade and

make specific commitments on how that support plays out in

practice," Luxon said earlier in a speech to the Wellington

Chamber of Commerce.

He added that he would head to Britain later in April for

talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on trade, security and

geopolitical issues.

"We can't make the case for New Zealand sitting at home," he

said. "We have to position ourselves as advocates both for our

own economic interests and the institutions that underpin them."

Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on Australia and New Zealand,

the low end of his levies for all imports into the U.S. Canberra

and Wellington have both said they won't retaliate. About 12% of

New Zealand's and 5% of Australia's exports went to the U.S.

last year.