Christopher Luxon justifies calling business people on trade trips under Labour ‘C list’ and ‘tag-alongs’

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has found himself in a tight spot, trying to justify why he called businesspeople who went on trade trips under the previous government, C listers.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB on Friday, Luxon talked up the calibre of the delegates who would accompany him to Japan.

He then said, “A few [trade trips] that we did do in the last six years, compared to when I would go with [John] Key on a few of them, had just got very watered down; just sort of the C list really.

“This is why I want the A list being there. I want businesses that can do business in Japan; have interests in Japan; and [Japan] is a key part of their business strategy going forward… not just tag-alongs. So, everyone’s there for a reason.”

Asked by Newstalk ZB whether this was a bit insulting, Luxon said, “I don’t mean to be critical, whatsoever.”

Nonetheless, he made similar comments to the Herald before the trip.

He said the problem in the past was that businesses “weren’t able to convert well enough”, or turn talk into dollars, during trade trips.

“We’ve got the right players that are going to build business in Japan, rather than just attending and coming along for the ride”, Luxon told the Herald on Friday.

Asked, on Tuesday afternoon, to explain his comments, he said, “What I was meaning is, this is a high-powered delegation.”

Put to him that representatives from many of the companies on the current trade trip (like Fonterra, Zespri and Christchurch Airport) accompanied former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Japan in 2022, Luxon said his comments had been taken out of context.

He emphasised how he was on a mission to re-energise New Zealand’s trade relationship with Japan, noting how there were fewer Japanese tourists visiting New Zealand than pre-Covid, for example.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said: “Luxon likes to talk himself up and others down. We’ve seen it time and time again.

“He spent the campaign talking New Zealanders down, now he’s talking some of our top businesses who support New Zealand’s economy down.

“There has generally been goodwill on matters of trade and representing New Zealand abroad. Luxon doesn’t seem to have the same respect for our country doing well internationally no matter who’s in charge.”

This isn’t the first time Luxon’s comments have landed him in a spot of bother.

Interest.co.nz in April reported that Comvita chairman Brett Hewlett, at a lunch during a trade trip in the Philippines, asked Luxon to stop using phrases like, New Zealand is “open for business” and “under new management”.

Hewlett said the language was unhelpful because New Zealand has never been closed for business.

Nonetheless, Luxon is continuing to use the “open for business” phrase.

He is powering through a jam-packed schedule, aimed at upping New Zealand’s exports to Japan, attracting Japanese investment to New Zealand, and deepening New Zealand’s relationship with Japan geopolitically.

On Tuesday, Rocket Lab agreed to send 10 satellites into space for the Japanese company Synspective.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand announced it would add 30,000 seats to its Tokyo route between November and March.

On Monday, New Zealand company Fabrum announced it would supply Toyota with liquid hydrogen storage technology.

Journalists received Government assistance for travel costs to Japan when the NZDF plane broke down in Papua New Guinea.

Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the Parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.