Speaker 1: Kilra.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Our Prime
Speaker 2: minister has met and dined with one of the most
Speaker 2: powerful people in the world, Donald Trump. Christopher Luxen and
Speaker 2: Trump spoke at an APEC dinner the other night and
Speaker 2: it's expected to be one of the most significant meetings
Speaker 2: Luxon will have at the economic conference. Despite the two
Speaker 2: not having a formal bilateral the summit is straight off
Speaker 2: the back of one with the Association of Southeast Asian
Speaker 2: Nations or Arsian. Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Hawe has
Speaker 2: been traveling alongside Luxon and she joins us now on
Speaker 2: the Front Page. First off, Azaria apek Yan For people
Speaker 2: who don't know what these acronyms are, what are they?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So APEC is a really massive economic convention. It's
Speaker 1: sort of bringing together a number of world leaders from
Speaker 1: really across the globe to speak about the economy, to
Speaker 1: speak about trade, and also global security. So it's a
Speaker 1: lot of talks in terms of international security and also
Speaker 1: face to face meetings between some of the leaders of
Speaker 1: these countries. New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Luxen at APEC
Speaker 1: and also ASIAN which is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Speaker 1: Chris Luxin has met with a number of world leaders
Speaker 1: at this and had face to face what we call
Speaker 1: bilateral meetings, So those are really significant. It's sort of
Speaker 1: having these countries together, and New Zealand is a country
Speaker 1: that relies on trade quite a lot, so it is
Speaker 1: really important that we put face to name and keep
Speaker 1: up those relationships in terms of trading. There's also a
Speaker 1: number of deals that have taken place or some that
Speaker 1: are getting closer to taking place as well. So the
Speaker 1: Association of Southeast Asian Nations a huge sort of trading
Speaker 1: block there in New Zealand, aiming to really finalize and
Speaker 1: ratify a comprehensive strategic partnership that would make it one
Speaker 1: of sort of just a few countries in the world
Speaker 1: that has that basically an upgraded trading relationship, and that
Speaker 1: would be really significant for New Zealand exporters, but also
Speaker 1: for the global economy of Usian. We've been hearing that
Speaker 1: ASIAN and APEC represent sort of about sixty to seventy
Speaker 1: percent of the world's economy, which is massive. I mean
Speaker 1: we're talking about some of the people that are at
Speaker 1: APEC as well, China's Jijinpeing, the US's Donald Trump as well.
Speaker 1: So some of the most important people in the world
Speaker 1: are here and Chris Luxen is getting a chance to
Speaker 1: see some of these people face to face talk about
Speaker 1: It's also really significant as it comes with the tariff
Speaker 1: rollout amidst all of that from the US President Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: But basically the gist of these meetings APEC is in
Speaker 1: South Korea this year, Asian which was just wrapped up recently.
Speaker 1: That was in Kuala Lumpur. So the Prime Minister has
Speaker 1: traveled across the world for these so have a lot
Speaker 1: of world leaders as well, So really significant economic talks.
Speaker 1: Also talks about security and trade and just giving an
Speaker 1: opportunity for those countries to meet each other and speak
Speaker 1: and maybe get some trade deals across the line, or
Speaker 1: at least a bit closer to happening.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I saw that Malaysia is announcing investment into the New
Speaker 2: Zealand economy across multiple sectors. What sectors are they?
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a really important one for New Zealand.
Speaker 1: I mean, if we look the New Zealand government has
Speaker 1: been trying to push for investment quite a lot. They've
Speaker 1: had investment boosts in other policies such as that to
Speaker 1: try to really push global capital to go into the
Speaker 1: New Zealand economy. So if we look at this Malaysian investment,
Speaker 1: and Malaysia was where Asian was being hosted the Association
Speaker 1: of Southeast Asian Nation Summit. We look at what happened
Speaker 1: with Malaysia, A big investment was announced. One of them
Speaker 1: was on renewable energy, so that was supporting wind energy
Speaker 1: into New Zealand. And also hotel, the hotel industry and tourism.
Speaker 1: That's a massive industry for New Zealand as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a very significant one, and especially if we look
Speaker 1: at how it works in Asia, it's relatively nearby in
Speaker 1: terms of that, so hoping that that might boost travel.
Speaker 1: So take me through Acion.
Speaker 2: I know that the government has been looking more into
Speaker 2: trade talks with Southeast Asian countries. This is obviously the
Speaker 2: place to do it. We've heard about Malaysia. But who
Speaker 2: else did he meet up with there?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Prime Minison met with a number of world leaders.
Speaker 1: He met with the leader of the Philippines, which was significant.
Speaker 1: Also team or Leste, which doesn't really seem that significant,
Speaker 1: but it is with the backdrop of they have just
Speaker 1: joined Asian so the association, which means that that trading
Speaker 1: block is getting even bigger. So I suppose the thoughts
Speaker 1: behind that is if we do that quickly while they've
Speaker 1: just joined USIAN, we'll start off with a really good
Speaker 1: trading relationship there. The Prime ministers also match with the
Speaker 1: leader of Cambodia as well and also Thailand, those as
Speaker 1: well really significant globally. There's been a conflict taking place.
Speaker 1: There's been a cease fire as well that has been
Speaker 1: overseen by the American President, So it is good to
Speaker 1: see how those nations are reacting. Chris Luxen speaking about
Speaker 1: them both highly and also praising some of the efforts
Speaker 1: to get where we are now in terms of that
Speaker 1: cease fire as well. So there's been a number of
Speaker 1: meetings and also as we've been talking about, a number
Speaker 1: of business meetings as well that have been taking place.
Speaker 1: A lot of people actually some people have recognized Chris
Speaker 1: Luxin from a former life, people saying he was the
Speaker 1: former chief executive of Air New Zealand as well while
Speaker 1: introducing him, and I feel like Luxon has also been
Speaker 1: using that to his advantage. He's sat in a press
Speaker 1: conference recently that he's spoken about his business background as
Speaker 1: well with a number of people. So that is a
Speaker 1: really significant, I suppose skill that Chris Luxon has coming
Speaker 1: into this having that business background and also being the
Speaker 1: Prime Minister of New Zealand being able to mash those
Speaker 1: together in terms of these big economic talks very significant here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what we really want to see is, you know,
Speaker 4: with the two biggest economies of the world, to be
Speaker 4: able to have you know, to be able to have
Speaker 4: a calm and de escalated gives a lot of certainty
Speaker 4: to everybody else. And as you've seen a lot of
Speaker 4: what you know otherwise, he creates chaos, and it creates
Speaker 4: a lack of certainty and a lack of clarity, and
Speaker 4: as a result, businesses don't invest in, consumers don't spend,
Speaker 4: and so you know, that's that's the second and third
Speaker 4: order consequences of the US and China not being working
Speaker 4: together for mutual benefit.
Speaker 2: What do you reckon is the main headline of APEX
Speaker 2: from Christopher Lackson's point of view.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I feel like you would have to
Speaker 1: say that The big headline from this is that Chris
Speaker 1: Luxen and Donald Trump have met, They've spoken, So this
Speaker 1: is really really significant. I mean, we think about Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: people say he's the leader of the free world. He's
Speaker 1: probably one of the most influential people that exists currently,
Speaker 1: So this is a massive massive Chris Luxon and Donald
Speaker 1: Trump had the opportunity to have a meeting and to
Speaker 1: speak before they both went into a formal dinner. That
Speaker 1: dinner was hosted by the South Korean president and it
Speaker 1: was put on for APEC leaders, a really intimate dinner
Speaker 1: setting as well. It was a sort of small white
Speaker 1: table in quite a big room as well. Just the
Speaker 1: world leaders were there. So some of the other gala
Speaker 1: dinners that we've seen had officials and media as well.
Speaker 1: The media were there for a bit of it, but
Speaker 1: there were no officials, no diplomats. It was just the
Speaker 1: big names, and Chris Luxen was one of those names.
Speaker 1: He went into this meeting with Donald Trump. World leaders
Speaker 1: had already arrived at the dinner. People like Anthony Alberanizi,
Speaker 1: Canada's Mark Karney as well were already sort of in
Speaker 1: the room in this kind of waiting room. I suppose
Speaker 1: with media before actually heading into the dinner, and then
Speaker 1: two p all came through the door, Chris Luxon and
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. So they came through the door and had
Speaker 1: a few remarks to media and also had quite a
Speaker 1: quite a funny interaction. Last one here, I thought, so
Speaker 1: Chris Luckson obviously famously doesn't have any hair. It was
Speaker 1: quite a chummy and funny interaction between those leaders as well.
Speaker 1: But Chris Luckson had a press conference after that meeting
Speaker 1: and after that formal dinner as well, and managed to
Speaker 1: speak a bit about what happened. He said he wouldn't
Speaker 1: give a blow by blow analysis, but said that it
Speaker 1: was a good opportunity to be able to speak to
Speaker 1: to Donald Trump and to a number of other world leaders.
Speaker 1: I believe there were about seven or eight leaders at
Speaker 1: that dinner table, so very intimate setting. He said, you
Speaker 1: would imagine the topic of tariffs to come up, but
Speaker 1: didn't really go into too much detail about what those
Speaker 1: conversations look like. Also, interestingly, the Prime Minister invited Donald
Speaker 1: Trump to sort of have a look at New Zealand.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a keen golfer, and Chris Luckson said
Speaker 1: that New Zealand would maybe be a good place to
Speaker 1: practice some of that golf and to have a try
Speaker 1: on some of our golf courses as well. We'll see
Speaker 1: if that invitation is accepted. I believe there's been similar
Speaker 1: invitations in terms of Australia and things like that. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump obviously a very busy man. But Chris Luckson did
Speaker 1: say at his press conference, if that were to happen,
Speaker 1: which is a big if, just to preface, if that
Speaker 1: were to happen, he thinks that New Zealand would be
Speaker 1: able to cope with this sort of security detail that
Speaker 1: would be needed for something like that. But in terms
Speaker 1: of the actual meeting, so so significant, so major. It's
Speaker 1: the first time actually that Donald Trump and Ris Luckson
Speaker 1: have met in person. They spoke on the phone while
Speaker 1: when Trump was confirmed as the US president, as you'd expect,
Speaker 1: but on that day you'd also expect Trump to be
Speaker 1: getting calls from pretty much every world leader, so there
Speaker 1: wouldn't really be a chance to actually go into much detail.
Speaker 1: And also, finally, Donald Trump said Chris l Likesen was
Speaker 1: a friend of his. And then after a sort of
Speaker 1: a bit of questions were thrown at Donald Trump in
Speaker 1: that press room before the dinner, he said, I like
Speaker 1: your man from New Zealand.
Speaker 2: I would expect that that means good things about our
Speaker 2: trade relationship in future. But I guess we're very, very
Speaker 2: very far down the list of people to speak to
Speaker 2: Donald Trump about tariffs. Did Chris Luckson say anything else
Speaker 2: about But he's keeping pretty tight lipped, isn't he.
Speaker 1: Previously in a CEO summit, Chris Luckson did a Q
Speaker 1: and A just before, so it was on the same
Speaker 1: day that he met Trump. He was saying, we're pushing
Speaker 1: for sort of rules based trading, we're pushing for free trade,
Speaker 1: but also said, well, all of these countries, they're acting
Speaker 1: in their own best interest. He also name dropped the
Speaker 1: US as one of those countries that was acting in
Speaker 1: its best interest, but then said essentially free trade would
Speaker 1: be in New Zealand's best interests. So he has been
Speaker 1: pushing in the background speaking about his views on tariffs.
Speaker 1: His views on tariffs are well known, but what we
Speaker 1: aren't one hundred percent clear about is how much of
Speaker 1: that actually got through to Donald Trump at that sort
Speaker 1: of dinner. He's saying he's not going to go into
Speaker 1: those details, but also said, well, it would be obvious
Speaker 1: that something like that would come up. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a major economic convention. There's a lot of these
Speaker 1: talks taking place, and tariffs is one of the biggest
Speaker 1: things globally that has been taking place in terms of
Speaker 1: the APEC region and just the world in terms of
Speaker 1: global trade. So you would expect that to come up,
Speaker 1: But in terms of what was actually spoken about, it's
Speaker 1: not very clear. The world leaders keeping relatively tight lipped,
Speaker 1: but you would assume that maybe they might even have
Speaker 1: to to sort of keep a good relationship with Donald
Speaker 1: Trump as well. I mean, just getting that meeting is
Speaker 1: very significant, so you wouldn't want to be upsetting the
Speaker 1: man just after meeting him, you think.
Speaker 2: So, what's on the agenda for today is area.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so today we're also going to see some more
Speaker 1: investments on the cards. There's an event that's planned on
Speaker 1: the green economy. Now we don't have too much details
Speaker 1: about this yet, but it could be some sort of
Speaker 1: sustainability announcement as well. New Zealand has previously been sort
Speaker 1: of marketing itself, shall we say, in terms of being
Speaker 1: a clean and green economy, so maybe that has a
Speaker 1: part to play in that as well. And also yesterday
Speaker 1: there was an event at the Skyline lou that's a
Speaker 1: big company in New Zealand and sort of trying to
Speaker 1: get that investment and tourism as well, trying to really
Speaker 1: show New Zealand as a place to visit. And I mean,
Speaker 1: how much better of a way to do it than
Speaker 1: in a place where a bunch of world leaders from
Speaker 1: Asia and across the globe are in the same room together.
Speaker 1: There's media from all over the world here covering these
Speaker 1: events and covering what is going on. So there's a
Speaker 1: number of things still taking place also, bilateral meetings with
Speaker 1: a number of people, Chris Luxen meeting with South Korea's
Speaker 1: President Lee as well after that sort of formal dinner
Speaker 1: that they had as well with Donald Trump and some
Speaker 1: other world leaders. So still a lot of economic talks,
Speaker 1: meetings and business events as well here.
Speaker 3: Ventually. The people of South Korea have forged a miracle
Speaker 3: of economic development like you rarely see, an industrial and
Speaker 3: technological powerhouse, and above all, a free society and enduring
Speaker 3: democracy and a thriving civilization. And I want to congratulate you.
Speaker 3: Very few places like it the entire world should be
Speaker 3: inspired by all that you have achieved, and they study
Speaker 3: you and they do so much to understand what you've done,
Speaker 3: but most of them don't get it, and that's probably
Speaker 3: good for you.
Speaker 1: Keep it this way.
Speaker 3: Most of them don't get it. They want to get it,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't quite work out for them the same
Speaker 3: way it works out for you. So that's a great
Speaker 3: tribute to you.
Speaker 2: And tell me, Sariah, I know that you've been kind
Speaker 2: of following around Luxon in the press pack. I assume
Speaker 2: that there are a few journalists there from New Zealand
Speaker 2: and is it kind of the same you see other
Speaker 2: kind of press following their respective leaders as well? Like
Speaker 2: do you interact with one another? Do you talk to
Speaker 2: the other journalists from different countries? What's it like behind
Speaker 2: the scenes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, we have the media
Speaker 1: center which is absolutely massive. It is pat I mean
Speaker 1: you would think that there's and I'm not too great
Speaker 1: actually with counting crowds, which hasn't been good in my
Speaker 1: journalism career, to be honest, but you'd have to think
Speaker 1: there are hundreds and hundreds of people in these massive
Speaker 1: press rooms as well. They sort of sit in these
Speaker 1: blocks there was people from Australia as well that we
Speaker 1: interacted with. They actually came to an event at Asian
Speaker 1: as well, so we kind of were like, oh, I
Speaker 1: saw you a couple of days ago in Kuala Lumpur
Speaker 1: and now you're here in South Korea. But yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of press packs, a lot of people, lots
Speaker 1: going on as well, and also just in the backgrounds
Speaker 1: and in the behind the scenes. A lot of cultural
Speaker 1: performances is food trucks as well with Korean food, so
Speaker 1: that's as well interesting trying to show that off to
Speaker 1: the media and the Korean food, the Korean culture. There's
Speaker 1: been a performances drumming, We've had some fried chicken from
Speaker 1: a Korean food track, and in fact I was actually
Speaker 1: interviewed by Korean State TV on whether or not I
Speaker 1: liked the fried chicken. They were doing sort of boxes
Speaker 1: with some of the foreign media, and it was great.
Speaker 1: It was really good. It's very good fried chicken. So
Speaker 1: trying to see if I can find that interview clip somewhere,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's really cool to see all of the
Speaker 1: media here as well, a lot of American media as
Speaker 1: you'd expect as well, traveling with the American President Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: They're sort of also in the room as well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been a really really interesting and significant event and
Speaker 1: one of the things that you would sort of expect,
Speaker 1: but has been really eye opening to see just the
Speaker 1: amount of security everywhere. I mean, there's security guards, there's
Speaker 1: police as far as the eye can see the station
Speaker 1: sort of everywhere around the city as well. There's also
Speaker 1: flags around the city that say APEC on them. It's
Speaker 1: very obvious that APEC is taking place. There's also been
Speaker 1: road closures for motorcades. And the other day actually we
Speaker 1: saw Trump's motorcade forty eight cars, forty eight vehicles that
Speaker 1: were in that motorcade and also get this, a helicopter
Speaker 1: above the motorcade as well, so massive, that was huge.
Speaker 1: New Zealand has a motiicate as well, but forty eight
Speaker 1: cars nowhere near.
Speaker 2: That probably doesn't have a chopper upperhead as well.
Speaker 1: No, exactly. Well, that was the only chopper that we saw,
Speaker 1: and everyone started filming it immediately once we heard this
Speaker 1: sort of the chopper go up above. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has been the big one in terms of
Speaker 1: the motorcades, of the security as well, and also media
Speaker 1: who were covering that dinner with Trump, Luxen and some
Speaker 1: other world leaders. They had to go through a number
Speaker 1: of rounds of security as well a few batches. They
Speaker 1: actually brought in a dog as well, like a sniffer dog,
Speaker 1: to sniff through people's media bags as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are some of the biggest world leaders in the
Speaker 1: entire world, and they were They had dogs sniffing through
Speaker 1: people's bags. They had scanners and sort of things that
Speaker 1: you would see at an airport, so very high security
Speaker 1: here trying to protect some of the biggest diplomats, the biggest,
Speaker 1: most influential people.
Speaker 2: Well lucky you didn't save any of that Korean fried
Speaker 2: chicken in your media bag or Zaria.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: it's been great.
Speaker 2: That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extend sive news
Speaker 2: coverage at enzidherld dot co dot mz. The Front Page
Speaker 2: is produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is
Speaker 2: also our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front
Speaker 2: Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 2: tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines,