The Prime Minister has personally thanked outgoing United States President Joe Biden for his half-century of public service as he prepares to vacate the White House.
Christopher Luxon met the President at a Gala dinner at the Apec summit last night
Apec 2024: Luxon bids farewell to Biden; question marks remain over Trump’s approach to NZ
Subscribe to listen
Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber? Sign in here
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Luxon did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Biden during his whirlwind trip to the Peruvian capital of Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit.
Questions lingered as to how the 21-country economic agreement will be impacted by US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated in January.
But Luxon said this question was not raised with him by any world leaders – he said he met all 21 over the course of the weekend.
Closer to home, the Prime Minister was also frank about the unknowns of a Trump presidency for New Zealand: “We don’t quite know what the policies of that administration will be.”
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
I met with the leaders of APEC today to reaffirm our commitment to building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economies across the Asia-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/pgxZlusAqJ
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 16, 2024
Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on imports to the US upon assuming office. Unless New Zealand can receive a carve-out, such a move would impact New Zealand’s $14 billion worth of exports a year to US.
Luxon said this is not his focus while at Apec this year.
“The reality is, it’s not up to me, in the spirit of free and fair elections, to make comment about internal American decisions the populous makes about who gets to represent them.
“In the same way I wouldn’t expect them to make comments about who gets to represent the New Zealand people as well.”
He said that from New Zealand’s point of view: “It is what it is.”
“The American people have spoken and have made their decision. That is the leader they have selected and it’s my job to push on and make it work for New Zealand.”
Luxon has revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping directly raised his Government’s concerns around New Zealand joining the Aukus agreement.
Aukus is a security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, centred around the Pacific region. As part of that deal, Australia will be provided with nuclear submarines by the US.
But New Zealand is only interested in the non-nuclear pillar II part of the pact, which would allow the Government into an intelligence-sharing agreement with the other Aukus countries.
Luxon met Xi on Saturday morning, where the PM said he raised New Zealand’s involvement as an issue.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
“China has concerns around what they see as tension in the region that’s also coming from the US, or what’s coming through Aukus,” Luxon said.
“They don’t particularly see that as a positive from their perspective in the region. We would disagree, we do think it gives regional stability and security.”
Asked if he was worried if there would be any repercussions from China if New Zealand joined Aukus, Luxon said that “is not a consideration for us”.
“We’re going to do this objectively, very dispassionately.”
But Luxon noted that New Zealand is still in the exploratory phase of joining the military pact - saying it’s still “some time away” figuring out what New Zealand gets out of the agreement, is a “slow burn”.
Luxon has now headed back to New Zealand and will arrive in Auckland on Monday morning.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
