Winston Peters: Foreign Minister discusses meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

The Foreign Minister says he's waiting for the dust to settle on potential US tariffs.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Winston Peters today in the American capital - talking global security and co-operation.

The Trump administration has threatened to impose agricultural tariffs, with possible impacts for one of our largest industries.

Peters says our two countries have been close partners for decades.

"It's not a matter of taking sides or doing anything untoward, or anything that the New Zealand people would not want us to do."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Foreign Minister Winston Peters had his much anticipated meeting with
US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio earlier today. Let's try and
get a bit more insight into what was happening. Foreign
Minister Winston Peters joins us. Now, Hello, Hello, how are
you very well? Thank you? Can you give us a
sense from this meeting what the Americans' priorities are.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Look, we came over here to find out what they
wanted of us and to say what we wanted of them,
and we had a very very substantial, very meaningful meeting.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
And what do they want from us?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, it's strange enough if they want us to go
on being what we've been for a long long time,
may rival a force in the world, so to speak,
for democracy, for the rule of law and things like that,
the kin to share our perspective of their neighborhood which
we live, the Blue Continent, and no other international issues.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Did they say that they wanted us to do more
on the Pacific or that they were going to do
more on the Pacific?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, it's more like saying, look, what can we do
together that's positive? And how can we do that? What
will your engagement be as you work out as a
very new government, what your long term plan is that
we were prepared to wait to the dost settles to
find that out, because it's a very extraordinary time when

(01:14):
you first come into government, as the Trump government has
for the second time. And in terms of positioning ourselves,
I think we owe a lot to our embassy here,
to Rosemary Banks and her team. They've done a marvels job.
But we had very, very many full discussions, which was
our intent in the first place.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Did anything come up to do with Taiwan or military
engagement or the Chinese vessels off the coast of Australia
the other week.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
I've not in that context. It was a wider discussion
about what was happening around the world, how it was
a very different, changed set of circumstances. A lot is happening,
you know, in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, wherever
you name it. There are problems, but it's where we
can help in terms of solutions and in terms of
sees far as that they can't come soon enough. These

(02:03):
sorts of discussions we had.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
And what was your sense speaking to the excellent Rosemary Banks,
who's our ambassador there in Washington about the tariff situation.
Did you get a sense that there might be an
exemption for US on agriculture or is it pretty hard
line there?

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, we pointed out that for four decades we had
been in that situation of being tariff free for enter
into our country. Most substantially, we'll lead in that context,
and that when it comes to the United States that
had been or somewhat similar in that engagement, they're at about
two percent, were way below one percent. That there's a
lot more common about the situation between New Zealand and

(02:41):
the United States than people think. But there's a chance
to have those discussions in a very meaningful way. And
so we will know before too long, when the dust settles,
what it means. But I think we could go forward
with some significant confidence that these meetings were for a purpose,
not just filling out an agenda, but ensuring that we're

(03:01):
part of their plans for the future.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
So on the whole Trump's in office in Washington, DC,
You've had your sit down with Marco Rubio. Will New
Zealand and the US be closer partners under a Trump administration?
And what does that look like?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Look down through the decades we've been close partners regardless
of who's in the administration in Washington. This is a
chance to ensure that that aspiration goes forward to the future.
It's not a matter of taking sides or doing anything
untoward or anything that the New Zealand people would not
want us to do, but ensuring that we came here
with one purpose in mind, in particular, was to look

(03:40):
after the future of a country. Call New Zealand all.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Right, minister, appreciate your time this evening, Winston Peters, the
Foreign Affairs Minister in Washington, DC. For more from Hither
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