Christopher Luxon reflects on first US trip

Christopher Luxon’s first trip to the US is over, one he spent trying to deepen New Zealand’s relationship with “like-minded countries with very similar values”, particularly on the issue of international security.

The prime minister has been at the latest NATO summit. New Zealand is not a member, but is a global partner of the security alliance, which for more than two years has been assisting Ukraine in its defence against Russia.

Luxon said on Saturday it was important for New Zealand to have a voice at such discussions, even if they were about events happening in another part of the world.

“As I said, from day one, we really want to lift the intensity, the urgency of our connections and relationships with folk all around the world,” he told media gathered at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

“We are bounding that in the Indo-Pacific region, and that is why you’re seeing myself, I hit it pretty hard. You’re seeing Winston [Peters, foreign minister], you know, travel around, as well, and Judith [Collins, science, innovation and technology minister] obviously, also [Trade Minister] Todd McClay with trade. So the four of us are responsible for lifting the intensity, with some urgency, in our relationships.

“And I think, you know, as you probably hopefully got a sense of, we are respected and we are able to make a contribution. I want to make sure that New Zealand is at that table, at those big tables, making sure we are putting our point of view forward and we are contributing.”

He said New Zealand has “always been respected” on the international stage.

“It’s just a question of, I want to deepen it and I want to put more volume to it.”

Luxon said he met with most of the leaders at the NATO summit, and that Ukraine was the focus – not the escalating push for US President Joe Biden to quit the presidential race amid a growing number of awkward gaffes.

“I mean, you know, obviously it’s not ideal,” Luxon said. “But what I’d say to you is that I was more interested in, what’s the spirit? What’s the level of connectedness? What’s the level of unity and commitment looking like?

“And what I came away from, irrespective of which country was there – there was 38 country heads essentially, or political leaders – and you know, everyone was very united on what we’ve got to do… We cannot afford for Russia to win that war. Ukraine has to win that. And so actually that solidarity and that unity really does matter. And those events, I think are quite important to actually catalyse and to galvanise that unity as a result.”

He repeated comments he made at a prior press conference that the Indo-Pacific region was at risk of war too, with potential flashpoints in East Asia.

“It’s about never taking for granted democracy and the principles of a liberal democracy, which in New Zealand we’ve got a fairly benign environment around us – but you have a huge appreciation that, you know, we should never take it for granted. We’ve got to keep reinventing it, keep earning it.”

In California, Luxon also met with Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been tipped as a potential replacement for Biden, should the 81-year-old pull out, or future candidate for president. Newsom has expressed support for the Biden-Harris ticket.

“He’s someone that I’ve, you know, followed for a while, and we connected really well, and we’ve, you know, have some common interests and things. We enjoyed each other’s company, it was a good, good connection.

“And really, the opportunity was there to talk about certainly the New Zealand-California bilateral relationship in some form, which was really around things like energy and certainly around biotech, and we were interested in learning from each other a little bit about that.

“But also as an Indo-Pacific player in its own right, where most of its focus is into the Indo Pacific region, it was good to be able to have a foreign affairs kind of observation conversation as well, post NATO.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets with California Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Photo: X / Christopher Luxon

Hawaii holiday

Next on Luxon’s agenda was a holiday.

“I’ve got a couple of days off, which is great, so I’m looking forward to a break. I think it’s my first sort of, you know, a couple of days, few days in a row that I’ll actually get to have a break, so I’m on holiday here for a few days. It’ll be great.”

He joked he would not be taking a holiday in Te Puke. In 2022, the then-leader of the opposition made a post on social media saying he was having a “great morning” in the small Bay of Plenty town, when in reality he was holidaying in Hawaii.

“I’m not going to Te Puke… I’m not going to Te Puke. I’ll be somewhere in the Pacific. I’ll be somewhere in the Pacific yep… a few days’ break will be lovely and I look forward to seeing you all back at home.”

Luxon in 2022 said his family normally holiday in Hawaii each July.