His first day in the city was the American politics day, before he moves onto the Nato summit and the European leaders. He was like a kid in a candy shop – although he couldn’t choose his own pick-and-mix.
The Oval Office meeting was out of his reach on this occasion. It would have been little short of a miracle if Luxon had been on US President Joe Biden’s crowded schedule for anything more than a hello in passing.
As Luxon quite fairly pointed out, he was facing pretty stiff competition from the 32 Nato leaders also in town ahead of the Nato Summit – leaders of much bigger countries than his.
His visit also coincided with the return of politicians to Congress after a long recess – meaning the US media were focusing on chasing those politicians to ask them about the ongoing debate around Biden’s re-election bid and his rival Donald Trump’s bid.
In the corridors near the senators’ offices, they bailed up senators along the pathways, holding open lift doors to continue the questions.
All eyes were also on Biden to see if he would stumble as he went about his business, delivering a speech to open the Nato Summit in which he spoke of the significance Nato had played and the boost in defence spending during Russia’s war on Ukraine, an apparent reminder that Trump was a Nato-sceptic.
Visiting leaders – including Luxon – were also being asked questions they didn’t particularly want to answer about the prospect of a second Trump administration.
As Taylor Swift might put it, they’ve seen this film before and they didn’t like the ending.
Luxon certainly didn’t want to answer the questions. He was asked whether he thought Biden was fit to serve a further term, or whether he was worried about what a second Trump presidency might mean for the world and for New Zealand.
He had no views he was willing to share.
Media hoping the heat or lack of sleep would result in a weak moment were disappointed – he managed to maintain his line that he would not talk about US politics all the way through a 15-minute interrogation under the beating sun in front of the Capitol building in intense 38C heat.
It’s the only answer he really can give.
Luxon will very much hope he gets to sit down with an American President at some point while he is Prime Minister.
That is not so critical this time around: Luxon has a smorgasbord of other powerful leaders to meet with at Nato today.
The point of meeting leaders is partly to form a relationship that might come in handy a bit later on. As things stand, it’s not clear who the US President will be after the November election.
Luxon’s hopes of a future White House invite may depend on the result of that.
There is a notable gap between when Sir John Key last went to the White House in 2014 (he was invited twice by Barack Obama) and when Dame Jacinda Ardern went to meet Biden in 2022. That gap was the Trump presidency, during which Ardern was PM and little old New Zealand didn’t get a look-in.
Should Trump get a second term, Luxon might fare a bit better than Ardern on the invite front. Ardern was swiftly portrayed as the anti-Trump – young and liberal and fast getting a global profile as a result of it.
Luxon’s CEO vibe might be more appealing to a Trump administration.
His meetings were with a mix of Republicans and Democrats.
On Wednesday, he gets one last Republican in: Ted Cruz, the Senator for Texas, who stood against Trump in 2016 but now backs him. Both Luxon and Cruz are the same age at 53, both are conservative although Cruz is quite a lot more conservative in many respects.
That meeting will be intriguing for Luxon, given Cruz’s long political history.
That same day, the American political junkie will turn his attentions to the issues and the leaders that await at the Nato Summit.
Top of that list is Ukraine: Luxon announced a further $16 million of support for Ukraine as other leaders also announced new packages. While New Zealand’s is small change compared to most others, all countries want to be seen to do their bit.
He has a long string of meetings with the Nato leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Justin Trudeau. Both were friendly with Ardern.
However, he may have to rely on his resourcefulness at a dinner or on the sidelines to try to get that word in with Biden.
