April 13, 2025 • 8 mins
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has been in Hawaii this week, where he gave a speech discussing the United States tariffs on the rest of the world.
But in that speech he criticised use of the term "trade war" - despite Prime Minister Christopher Luxon using the term himself.
It also comes after Luxon had a number of conversations with world leaders. Peters said the pair hadn’t discussed Luxon’s speech or his calls with world leaders ahead of time: “So I hope that he’ll get my message and he’ll call me next time”.
Is there a row brewing between the pair?
Newstalk ZB chief political reporter Sophie Trigger joined Nick Mills for the Beehive Buzz.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk, said b direct from News Talks Edb's
team at Parliaments, the Beehive Buzz.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hi Bos joining us for the Beehive Buzz news Talk,
said Bee chief political reporter Sophie Treger. Good morning, So.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning, Nick, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm great, been a while.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it has been a little while, but yeah, filling
in today while Jason Walls is on his honeymoon. So yeah,
great pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Likewise, MP Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been having lots
of conversation with leaders around these tariffs. I mean, who's
he spoken to and what's he trying to gain out
of it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, So last week Chris Luxon announced he would be
calling around world leaders in a bid to save the
rules based trading system make the case for like minded
countries sticking together in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs.
Luxon said he wanted to explore whether there was a
way to use one of New Zealand's largest trade arrangements,
the CPTPP, as a springboard to a better global trading system,
(01:16):
and he also said he'd be traveling to the UK
later this month to talk directly with Prime Minister Serkis Stamer.
So since then, Chris Luxon's spoken with the Prime ministers
of Thailand, Fiji, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Irish leader, the
President of the Philippines as well as the President of
the EU, and with the latter he discussed the prospects
(01:37):
for closer cooperation between the EU and the CPTPP. So,
speaking to My Costing this morning, Luxon said his calls
to leaders are about keeping cool and calm heads and
just checking to see where they're at, and also about
ensuring that those trade blocks like the EU, the CPTPP
and as JAN aren't doing tit for tat tariffs with
(01:59):
each other. He says, there are disputes between particular blocks,
and it's about advocating for keeping calm and not retaliation
to disputes with tariffs. Now, I think this has the
potential to be a real area of strength for the
Prime Minister because Chris Lackson has of course been wanting
to talk about the economy and economic growth all year,
(02:20):
and he is has been quite strong overseas and managed
to form relationships with a lot of these leaders, particularly
in the Asia Pacific. But what perhaps doesn't look so
good is the mixed messaging. I suppose you could say
that we've been seeing between him and his Deputy Prime
Minister Winston Peters over there over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Now I wanted to get onto that. So because this
is sort of getting a little I wouldn't say it
was ugly, but it's kind of like everyone's been expecting
this whole coalition thing to blow up between the leaders
and expecting is this the start of something? I mean,
is it Winston having his final big push before he
steps down, and you know, like it gives way to
David Seymour not steps down.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, definitely at this point, what we've seen is quite
a few comments from Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters about
Chris Luxon's actions in calling around to world leaders. So
last week he said these calls were premature, saying the
situation with tariffs would come to a resolution quicker than
people think that we shouldn't panic. He also told Arenz
(03:23):
on Friday that he hadn't been consulted by the Prime
Minister ahead of these calls and saying I hope he
gets the message and calls me next time. And yesterday
Peter spoke in Hawaii, one of the stops on a
sort of week long delegation he's taking of the Pacific,
and he appeared there to question whether the recent developments
(03:43):
are truly unprecedented, and he contemned the condemned the use
of military language while discussing the trade environments. So to
quote the speech itself, Nick, he said, in recent weeks,
the tendency to hype up a debate about how international
trade works into a black and white, polarizing issue has
been unfortunate and misguided. The use of military language, of
(04:06):
a trade war, of the need to fight, of the
imperative to form alliances in order to oppose the actions
of one country, has at times come across as hysterical
and short sighted. Now these comments could definitely be interpreted
as applying to Luxon, who last week used some of
that language. For example, he said something along the lines
(04:26):
of free trade is worth fighting for, and I'm up
for that fight now. Chris Luxon himself on Mike Cosking
this morning, has called this a bit of a media beat,
the idea of a dispute between himself and his deputy,
saying that he and Winston Peters are actually saying the
same thing, and he indicates that Peter's comments were more
sort of directed at the general global reaction rather than
(04:49):
Luxon himself. So Luxon said to Mike Costking that his
calls two world leaders are about keeping a cool head,
and so therefore not actually what Peters is talking about,
but certainly noteworthy that we don't seem to be having
the two leaders sort of singing from the same songbook
(05:10):
on this one now.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And so what scares me a bit on this one. Firstly,
we had him firing Whinston. Peter's firing Phil Goff with
it without even calling the Prime minister, which I think
is a pretty big move. I know everyone tried to
brush it under the carpet, but I thought it was
a pretty big move. Now he's telling you know, Nick
mill speak, no one else to speak, But he's telling
the Prime Minister to shut up, basically, isn't He's trying
(05:31):
to control him. So there's something I don't know, whether
the relationship is actually as good as what we think
it is.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, well, as I say, I mean, it's certainly as
you say, it's noteworthy that the Prime Minister didn't tell
his deputy about these plans to call world leaders. Winston
Peters has of course been quite involved in this. He
was in the US last month meeting with senior officials
of the Trump administration talking about trade, and then of
(05:59):
course Winston Peter's sort of making these thinly veiled criticisms,
saying that it was premature talking about hysterical language. It
is certainly all very interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Nick Okay, let's change the subject and go on to
have you got your driver's license?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So I do, but I actually didn't get my license
here in New Zealand. I got it in Australia, so
I actually, Yeah, was learning some things about the driver's
license system through this story, Nick Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So one of the major changes, and how can we
perceive them as being positive?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, so these are quite major changes, the first since
twenty eleven, and what the government wants to do is
remove the practical driving test needed to attain a full
license and also reduce the number of eyesight tests required.
So on that first change, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says
New Zealand's an international outlier in requiring a practical test
(06:58):
for someone on a restricted license who is applying for
their full license. So he says around one million adults
in New Zealand don't have a full driver license. Nearly
half of these people have no license at all, so
Bishop said this morning to News Talk said b that
sitting that second test is stressful, it costs around one
hundred bucks, it takes time out of school or work,
(07:19):
so a lot of people aren't bothering to graduate to
their full license at all, meaning that there's a lot
of people out there on the roads driving around on
their restricted license. So among the changes as well, a
new safety measures requiring a clean driving record of restricted drivers,
harving the demerit threshold, and introducing a zero alcohol limit
(07:42):
for learner and restricted drivers of any age. Currently that's
just drivers under the age of twenty nick that have
to adhere to that.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yes, I kind of like some of those changes. I
think it could have gone further in some but there's
an outline that we have to do two practical drives,
so drives to get your license. So if you always
appease to thank you very much, I know you've got
a pretty quiet week at the behive. Everyone's on holiday
except for you, so enjoy the time out at the
beehive as you got the cafe.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
To your.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Hopefully thanks Nick.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
News Talks there'll be chief political reporter Sophie Trigger coming
to us live from the very very quiet Beehive.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to news Talks There'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk, said b direct from News Talks Edb's
team at Parliaments, the Beehive Buzz.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hi Bos joining us for the Beehive Buzz news Talk,
said Bee chief political reporter Sophie Treger. Good morning, So.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good morning, Nick, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm great, been a while.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it has been a little while, but yeah, filling
in today while Jason Walls is on his honeymoon. So yeah,
great pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Likewise, MP Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been having lots
of conversation with leaders around these tariffs. I mean, who's
he spoken to and what's he trying to gain out
of it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, So last week Chris Luxon announced he would be
calling around world leaders in a bid to save the
rules based trading system make the case for like minded
countries sticking together in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs.
Luxon said he wanted to explore whether there was a
way to use one of New Zealand's largest trade arrangements,
the CPTPP, as a springboard to a better global trading system,
(01:16):
and he also said he'd be traveling to the UK
later this month to talk directly with Prime Minister Serkis Stamer.
So since then, Chris Luxon's spoken with the Prime ministers
of Thailand, Fiji, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Irish leader, the
President of the Philippines as well as the President of
the EU, and with the latter he discussed the prospects
(01:37):
for closer cooperation between the EU and the CPTPP. So,
speaking to My Costing this morning, Luxon said his calls
to leaders are about keeping cool and calm heads and
just checking to see where they're at, and also about
ensuring that those trade blocks like the EU, the CPTPP
and as JAN aren't doing tit for tat tariffs with
(01:59):
each other. He says, there are disputes between particular blocks,
and it's about advocating for keeping calm and not retaliation
to disputes with tariffs. Now, I think this has the
potential to be a real area of strength for the
Prime Minister because Chris Lackson has of course been wanting
to talk about the economy and economic growth all year,
(02:20):
and he is has been quite strong overseas and managed
to form relationships with a lot of these leaders, particularly
in the Asia Pacific. But what perhaps doesn't look so
good is the mixed messaging. I suppose you could say
that we've been seeing between him and his Deputy Prime
Minister Winston Peters over there over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Now I wanted to get onto that. So because this
is sort of getting a little I wouldn't say it
was ugly, but it's kind of like everyone's been expecting
this whole coalition thing to blow up between the leaders
and expecting is this the start of something? I mean,
is it Winston having his final big push before he
steps down, and you know, like it gives way to
David Seymour not steps down.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, definitely at this point, what we've seen is quite
a few comments from Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters about
Chris Luxon's actions in calling around to world leaders. So
last week he said these calls were premature, saying the
situation with tariffs would come to a resolution quicker than
people think that we shouldn't panic. He also told Arenz
(03:23):
on Friday that he hadn't been consulted by the Prime
Minister ahead of these calls and saying I hope he
gets the message and calls me next time. And yesterday
Peter spoke in Hawaii, one of the stops on a
sort of week long delegation he's taking of the Pacific,
and he appeared there to question whether the recent developments
(03:43):
are truly unprecedented, and he contemned the condemned the use
of military language while discussing the trade environments. So to
quote the speech itself, Nick, he said, in recent weeks,
the tendency to hype up a debate about how international
trade works into a black and white, polarizing issue has
been unfortunate and misguided. The use of military language, of
(04:06):
a trade war, of the need to fight, of the
imperative to form alliances in order to oppose the actions
of one country, has at times come across as hysterical
and short sighted. Now these comments could definitely be interpreted
as applying to Luxon, who last week used some of
that language. For example, he said something along the lines
(04:26):
of free trade is worth fighting for, and I'm up
for that fight now. Chris Luxon himself on Mike Cosking
this morning, has called this a bit of a media beat,
the idea of a dispute between himself and his deputy,
saying that he and Winston Peters are actually saying the
same thing, and he indicates that Peter's comments were more
sort of directed at the general global reaction rather than
(04:49):
Luxon himself. So Luxon said to Mike Costking that his
calls two world leaders are about keeping a cool head,
and so therefore not actually what Peters is talking about,
but certainly noteworthy that we don't seem to be having
the two leaders sort of singing from the same songbook
(05:10):
on this one now.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And so what scares me a bit on this one. Firstly,
we had him firing Whinston. Peter's firing Phil Goff with
it without even calling the Prime minister, which I think
is a pretty big move. I know everyone tried to
brush it under the carpet, but I thought it was
a pretty big move. Now he's telling you know, Nick
mill speak, no one else to speak, But he's telling
the Prime Minister to shut up, basically, isn't He's trying
(05:31):
to control him. So there's something I don't know, whether
the relationship is actually as good as what we think
it is.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, well, as I say, I mean, it's certainly as
you say, it's noteworthy that the Prime Minister didn't tell
his deputy about these plans to call world leaders. Winston
Peters has of course been quite involved in this. He
was in the US last month meeting with senior officials
of the Trump administration talking about trade, and then of
(05:59):
course Winston Peter's sort of making these thinly veiled criticisms,
saying that it was premature talking about hysterical language. It
is certainly all very interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Nick Okay, let's change the subject and go on to
have you got your driver's license?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So I do, but I actually didn't get my license
here in New Zealand. I got it in Australia, so
I actually, Yeah, was learning some things about the driver's
license system through this story, Nick Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So one of the major changes, and how can we
perceive them as being positive?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, so these are quite major changes, the first since
twenty eleven, and what the government wants to do is
remove the practical driving test needed to attain a full
license and also reduce the number of eyesight tests required.
So on that first change, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says
New Zealand's an international outlier in requiring a practical test
(06:58):
for someone on a restricted license who is applying for
their full license. So he says around one million adults
in New Zealand don't have a full driver license. Nearly
half of these people have no license at all, so
Bishop said this morning to News Talk said b that
sitting that second test is stressful, it costs around one
hundred bucks, it takes time out of school or work,
(07:19):
so a lot of people aren't bothering to graduate to
their full license at all, meaning that there's a lot
of people out there on the roads driving around on
their restricted license. So among the changes as well, a
new safety measures requiring a clean driving record of restricted drivers,
harving the demerit threshold, and introducing a zero alcohol limit
(07:42):
for learner and restricted drivers of any age. Currently that's
just drivers under the age of twenty nick that have
to adhere to that.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yes, I kind of like some of those changes. I
think it could have gone further in some but there's
an outline that we have to do two practical drives,
so drives to get your license. So if you always
appease to thank you very much, I know you've got
a pretty quiet week at the behive. Everyone's on holiday
except for you, so enjoy the time out at the
beehive as you got the cafe.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
To your.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Hopefully thanks Nick.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
News Talks there'll be chief political reporter Sophie Trigger coming
to us live from the very very quiet Beehive.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to news Talks There'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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