October 27, 2025 • 8 mins
The Prime Minister's set to finalise a deal strengthening our diplomatic and trading ties with 11 South East Asian countries, as he meets with leaders in Malaysia.
Chris Luxon is in Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN summit and will finalise a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the association.
He's then off to South Korea, for the APEC summit later this week.
Luxon told Mike Hosking that we will be only one of seven countries with this relationship, which is the highest level of diplomatic partnership possible.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Prime Minister is with us from Asian ahead of
APEX Crystal actions with us.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Morning, Good morning, Mike, Dad. Do I have a fun
fact for you? Last time you gave me grief about
doing the fun facts at the end?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do you know that we export in three days now
what we used to do in a year in nineteen
seventy five.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
To the world to Southeast Asia?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Southeast Asia yep, where I am today and kal. So
that's pretty cool, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So just just for the record, we export to Southeast
Asia now in three days what we used to export
in a whole year.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
In nineteen seventy five. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That's that's that's an that's an impressive fact. Congratulations. How
was your How was your Monday? Is this really about
glad handing in relationships as opposed to specific deals?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, Look, I mean Asian and Apek is about seventy
percent of our exports, sixty percent of the population, about
half the global economy. And so there's four things I'm
trying to do while I'm up here. One is to
get what's called a Conference of Strategic Partnership with Asian,
which is all the eleven countries and South East Asia.
That means we're only one of seven countries that have
that arrangement. It's the highest level sort of diplomatic relationship
(01:06):
you can have. And as a consequence, that means that
both countries in Southeast Asia have us a higher priority
to invest in and obviously make a bigger effort for
us to deal with our exports coming in and out
of those countries as well.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I've got a bit of work to do with Malaysia.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
To do about investment back in New Zealand, particularly renewables
and hospitality. Then we go to Korea where apeckas where
the twenty one economies of APEC are and that's a
chance also for us to talk about that grouping and
what we're doing. But also we're in Korea, we're going
to have a conference of stategic partnership, a serious upgrade,
and of course Korea is our fifth largest trading partner.
(01:41):
It's pretty sizable for New Zealand. So that's really what
we're here to do, is just make sure we're doing
everything we can to open up and get to the
top drawer of relationships with all these countries so that
we can create opportunities for our businesses to come in
and sell a lot of stuff, and of course they are.
And we've had a fantastic exports record this year which
has been brought in.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, the UN deal, will it get done this week
or not?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yes it will? Yes it well so I hope too.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I've got to make a pitch tomorrow in a meeting
and then we will celebrate that, hopefully over a lunch
and then and then get that deal signed a link tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Good. The Korean deal is worth what?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Not sure what it will be worth.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean we've done, We've got I've got an ft
A with Korea which has been actually therefore some time,
and we keep pushing to see whe we can get
that even further upgraded. But again, what this does is
put us into the top relation, top top draw of
relationships with them as well. And a lot of it is,
as I said, is you know, we're sending a lot
of product career. I went up there on a on
a state visit there and took a very large delegation
(02:41):
and again a lot of products and services, but also
some you know, technology businesses up there as well.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What's your sense in the you know, short time you've
been there, this this rules based order, free trade. What
we're about versus what some other countries are about these ways,
is that argument still winning? Is free trade still a thing?
Or are we losing?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
No? It is sort of setting.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I mean you might remember hit the phone's pretty hard
April and then within Shilavondalan and Europe, and what we
have agreed is that the European Union and the CPTPP
countries and the European Union and the Arcian countries, which
represent those three blocks, are about forty percent of global trade,
which is very, very sizable. We would have made a
(03:22):
decision that we really want to make sure that those
blocks actually have interfaces that work with each other, so
when there are trade disputes we keep working through the
rules based system that we actually have an avenue for
talking about trade and economics between those blocks as well.
So we're actually will have both those trading dialogues as
we call them, in place before the end of the year.
And that came about because of what we were saying
(03:44):
around tariffs. And it's not that, yes, we're managing our
bilateral relationship with America around tariffs by and large fairly tidally,
but it's actually the flow on effects of if you
get other countries that are caught up in the tariff
war with the US and then they end up dumping
stock and then there's tit for tat tariffs. Before you know,
the whole system breaks down very quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But you're on the heart of that system. I mean,
no one makes more sports give in Vietnam, cambod your
places like that. Are they deeply worried about what's going on?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, yeah they are.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I mean you would have seen even in the last
twenty four hours a lot of the Southeast Asian countries
that have surpluses with the US like we do. We've
got the lowest payment at fifteen percent. Many of them
mic are up at you know, forty percent, you know,
twenty to forty percent, so that I've been trying to
negotiate sort of into the lower twenties. But yes, many
of them are incredibly worried about it when I talk
to them private one on one.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
You talked about Von de Layon last week before you
got to where you are this morning, the EU meeting
was here. Did that go well? And is that of
material consequence? Are things improving with that particular part of the.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
World, Yeah, it is, And partly because you know, historically
with the UK and the EU, we've always banged on
about our historical ties now like mindedness and all the
historical stuff of world wars and all that sort of thing.
But the reality is now, with the FTAs and our
defense commitments, we've actually got quite a bit to propel
the relationship going forward. So to give you a feel
for it, our trade with the UK went up I
(05:04):
think twenty percent. Our trade with the European Union has
gone up twenty eight percent. So we've added two billion
dollars since that FDA came into force, brought in early
on in our government accelerated the INTRIE but it's about
twenty one billion dollars worth of trade in Europe. So
it's a very efficient vehicle for US. It's also great
to have options available for many of our businesses that
(05:25):
have got very very agile and moving out of one
market into another market, or shifting their weight and having
more diversified markets to play in. It's been really important.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
By the time you get to apick it a little
bit about the US and China, there's some sort of
framework there. I mean, yes, it's important globally, but are
they going to steal the show, and.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I think they will be you know, that'll be a
very dominant conversation. I spoke to Premier Lee of China
this evening about it. They were feeling they had had
some sort of you know, their secretaries and their ministers
have done some pre work to sort of calm things down.
And for the world's two largest economies, you know, we
actually all want them to de escalate and actually get
(06:05):
to a better understanding of each other and to get
it get it sorted basically, so we don't have the
chaos from the disruption that we've been experiencing. So it's
in all of our collective interest that that's a positive conversation,
which you know, all indications are that they have been
working towards a framework that they think that they can
get to a much more de escalated place, which would
be good for the world.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And how much angst within your camp as to whether
you get to meet Trump or not.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Look, I mean, we'll see what happens. I mean, basically
today has been a series of bilaterals with I think Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos,
India and obviously Premier League in China, and then We've
got more tomorrow here in KL and then there'll be
from over a couple of days in Korea as well,
So look, we'll see what happens. His schedule is pretty fluid.
As you can see, he's jammed in quite a bit.
(06:52):
He's come into KL, he's in left Ko, been in
Japan today, I think tomorrow, then rocks into Korea and
obviously even talk of whether you go to North Korea
and meet with Keim John and I've seen a new
media reports this evening, so we'll just see where it
all gets to and what happens.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
A couple of domestic issues. Ravishanka, the new CEO of
the in New Zealand, was on the program last week.
He started talking about subsidizing certain routes, you know, the
roots that aren't well serviced by in New Zealand. As
a major shareholder, one is the government, but two is
a major shareholder. Are you into that at all or not?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Not? Really?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I really wanted in New Zealand to focused on building
a better business, you know, and that means get focused
on your costs, your customer, your commercials and the culture
you know, and get those things right and do everything
you can to control that that part of the business
with respect to subsidies. Frankly, you know that's dollars that
we then are not spending on hospitals or schools, and
such a pretty simple choice for me. So my message
(07:45):
back to then would be in New Zealand, you know,
keep working your own cost base over your commercials, your
customer experience and obviously your new culture inside the business.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And your foreign minister was at the Oxford Union and
he said the courts in New Zealand are undermining democracy?
Is he right?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I wouldn't. I wouldn't go that far myself to say
that myself. I think we've got good commedy between the
courts and government. I think it's important that we do.
I know he's arguing in his New Zealand first capacity
at that debate, but now I'd probably disagree with him.
We've got, you know, where we are. We know Parliament
and law made in Parliament a supreme and that's where
you've seen us. Where we've been we've had adverse court
(08:24):
decisions or we felt that thresholds have been lowered and
the intent of what Parliament intended has been changed, then
we end up going back and passing legislation to lock
that in again.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
All right, appreciate your time, Christopert, sleep well, christ re
Luxant out of Asian ahead of APEX. For more from
the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio
The Prime Minister is with us from Asian ahead of
APEX Crystal actions with us.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Morning, Good morning, Mike, Dad. Do I have a fun
fact for you? Last time you gave me grief about
doing the fun facts at the end?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do you know that we export in three days now
what we used to do in a year in nineteen
seventy five.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
To the world to Southeast Asia?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Southeast Asia yep, where I am today and kal. So
that's pretty cool, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So just just for the record, we export to Southeast
Asia now in three days what we used to export
in a whole year.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
In nineteen seventy five. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That's that's that's an that's an impressive fact. Congratulations. How
was your How was your Monday? Is this really about
glad handing in relationships as opposed to specific deals?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, Look, I mean Asian and Apek is about seventy
percent of our exports, sixty percent of the population, about
half the global economy. And so there's four things I'm
trying to do while I'm up here. One is to
get what's called a Conference of Strategic Partnership with Asian,
which is all the eleven countries and South East Asia.
That means we're only one of seven countries that have
that arrangement. It's the highest level sort of diplomatic relationship
(01:06):
you can have. And as a consequence, that means that
both countries in Southeast Asia have us a higher priority
to invest in and obviously make a bigger effort for
us to deal with our exports coming in and out
of those countries as well.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I've got a bit of work to do with Malaysia.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
To do about investment back in New Zealand, particularly renewables
and hospitality. Then we go to Korea where apeckas where
the twenty one economies of APEC are and that's a
chance also for us to talk about that grouping and
what we're doing. But also we're in Korea, we're going
to have a conference of stategic partnership, a serious upgrade,
and of course Korea is our fifth largest trading partner.
(01:41):
It's pretty sizable for New Zealand. So that's really what
we're here to do, is just make sure we're doing
everything we can to open up and get to the
top drawer of relationships with all these countries so that
we can create opportunities for our businesses to come in
and sell a lot of stuff, and of course they are.
And we've had a fantastic exports record this year which
has been brought in.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, the UN deal, will it get done this week
or not?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yes it will? Yes it well so I hope too.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I've got to make a pitch tomorrow in a meeting
and then we will celebrate that, hopefully over a lunch
and then and then get that deal signed a link tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Good. The Korean deal is worth what?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Not sure what it will be worth.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean we've done, We've got I've got an ft
A with Korea which has been actually therefore some time,
and we keep pushing to see whe we can get
that even further upgraded. But again, what this does is
put us into the top relation, top top draw of
relationships with them as well. And a lot of it is,
as I said, is you know, we're sending a lot
of product career. I went up there on a on
a state visit there and took a very large delegation
(02:41):
and again a lot of products and services, but also
some you know, technology businesses up there as well.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What's your sense in the you know, short time you've
been there, this this rules based order, free trade. What
we're about versus what some other countries are about these ways,
is that argument still winning? Is free trade still a thing?
Or are we losing?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
No? It is sort of setting.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I mean you might remember hit the phone's pretty hard
April and then within Shilavondalan and Europe, and what we
have agreed is that the European Union and the CPTPP
countries and the European Union and the Arcian countries, which
represent those three blocks, are about forty percent of global trade,
which is very, very sizable. We would have made a
(03:22):
decision that we really want to make sure that those
blocks actually have interfaces that work with each other, so
when there are trade disputes we keep working through the
rules based system that we actually have an avenue for
talking about trade and economics between those blocks as well.
So we're actually will have both those trading dialogues as
we call them, in place before the end of the year.
And that came about because of what we were saying
(03:44):
around tariffs. And it's not that, yes, we're managing our
bilateral relationship with America around tariffs by and large fairly tidally,
but it's actually the flow on effects of if you
get other countries that are caught up in the tariff
war with the US and then they end up dumping
stock and then there's tit for tat tariffs. Before you know,
the whole system breaks down very quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But you're on the heart of that system. I mean,
no one makes more sports give in Vietnam, cambod your
places like that. Are they deeply worried about what's going on?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, yeah they are.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I mean you would have seen even in the last
twenty four hours a lot of the Southeast Asian countries
that have surpluses with the US like we do. We've
got the lowest payment at fifteen percent. Many of them
mic are up at you know, forty percent, you know,
twenty to forty percent, so that I've been trying to
negotiate sort of into the lower twenties. But yes, many
of them are incredibly worried about it when I talk
to them private one on one.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
You talked about Von de Layon last week before you
got to where you are this morning, the EU meeting
was here. Did that go well? And is that of
material consequence? Are things improving with that particular part of the.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
World, Yeah, it is, And partly because you know, historically
with the UK and the EU, we've always banged on
about our historical ties now like mindedness and all the
historical stuff of world wars and all that sort of thing.
But the reality is now, with the FTAs and our
defense commitments, we've actually got quite a bit to propel
the relationship going forward. So to give you a feel
for it, our trade with the UK went up I
(05:04):
think twenty percent. Our trade with the European Union has
gone up twenty eight percent. So we've added two billion
dollars since that FDA came into force, brought in early
on in our government accelerated the INTRIE but it's about
twenty one billion dollars worth of trade in Europe. So
it's a very efficient vehicle for US. It's also great
to have options available for many of our businesses that
(05:25):
have got very very agile and moving out of one
market into another market, or shifting their weight and having
more diversified markets to play in. It's been really important.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
By the time you get to apick it a little
bit about the US and China, there's some sort of
framework there. I mean, yes, it's important globally, but are
they going to steal the show, and.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I think they will be you know, that'll be a
very dominant conversation. I spoke to Premier Lee of China
this evening about it. They were feeling they had had
some sort of you know, their secretaries and their ministers
have done some pre work to sort of calm things down.
And for the world's two largest economies, you know, we
actually all want them to de escalate and actually get
(06:05):
to a better understanding of each other and to get
it get it sorted basically, so we don't have the
chaos from the disruption that we've been experiencing. So it's
in all of our collective interest that that's a positive conversation,
which you know, all indications are that they have been
working towards a framework that they think that they can
get to a much more de escalated place, which would
be good for the world.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And how much angst within your camp as to whether
you get to meet Trump or not.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Look, I mean, we'll see what happens. I mean, basically
today has been a series of bilaterals with I think Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos,
India and obviously Premier League in China, and then We've
got more tomorrow here in KL and then there'll be
from over a couple of days in Korea as well,
So look, we'll see what happens. His schedule is pretty fluid.
As you can see, he's jammed in quite a bit.
(06:52):
He's come into KL, he's in left Ko, been in
Japan today, I think tomorrow, then rocks into Korea and
obviously even talk of whether you go to North Korea
and meet with Keim John and I've seen a new
media reports this evening, so we'll just see where it
all gets to and what happens.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
A couple of domestic issues. Ravishanka, the new CEO of
the in New Zealand, was on the program last week.
He started talking about subsidizing certain routes, you know, the
roots that aren't well serviced by in New Zealand. As
a major shareholder, one is the government, but two is
a major shareholder. Are you into that at all or not?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Not? Really?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I really wanted in New Zealand to focused on building
a better business, you know, and that means get focused
on your costs, your customer, your commercials and the culture
you know, and get those things right and do everything
you can to control that that part of the business
with respect to subsidies. Frankly, you know that's dollars that
we then are not spending on hospitals or schools, and
such a pretty simple choice for me. So my message
(07:45):
back to then would be in New Zealand, you know,
keep working your own cost base over your commercials, your
customer experience and obviously your new culture inside the business.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And your foreign minister was at the Oxford Union and
he said the courts in New Zealand are undermining democracy?
Is he right?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I wouldn't. I wouldn't go that far myself to say
that myself. I think we've got good commedy between the
courts and government. I think it's important that we do.
I know he's arguing in his New Zealand first capacity
at that debate, but now I'd probably disagree with him.
We've got, you know, where we are. We know Parliament
and law made in Parliament a supreme and that's where
you've seen us. Where we've been we've had adverse court
(08:24):
decisions or we felt that thresholds have been lowered and
the intent of what Parliament intended has been changed, then
we end up going back and passing legislation to lock
that in again.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
All right, appreciate your time, Christopert, sleep well, christ re
Luxant out of Asian ahead of APEX. For more from
the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!