‘Tone it down’: Winston Peters on PM’s US tariff talks
Friday, 11 April 2025
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the Government’s response to Trump tariffs should be led by New Zealand’s interests and “not our egos”, in a strong rebuke of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s attempt to lead the fight for free trade.
Luxon hit the phones with world leaders on Thursday and Friday after giving a speech in which he suggested the free-trading Asia-Pacific and European countries should collaborate to response to the United States’ market rupturing tariffs policy.
The effort has produced a tepid response from world leaders, and has been deemed positive by Labour and trade experts.
But Peters, travelling in Tonga, for a third time disparaged Luxon’s efforts on Friday afternoon.
“Look, markets lose their nerve. Share market speculators lose their nerve. Politicians should not lose their nerve, and that's my advice,” he said, when asked about Luxon making phone calls.
“Our job is to be ultra-careful, ultra-forward-thinking in the interests of, guess what, the New Zealand economy, that's what matters, not our egos. So my advice to politicians is tone down, wait till you see and know what's going on.”
He said Luxon hadn’t told him of the speech and the many phone calls he was to make.
“So I hope that he'll get my message and he'll call me next time.”
Earlier on Friday, Luxon disagreed with a question posed about Peters’ criticism and did not explain the apparent difference in approach.
“I gave a pretty broad, ranging speech to that day on trade, which was appropriate given the week that we've been experiencing.”
He said he was speaking to world leaders to urge them to be “reaffirming the principles of free trade together”.
“If you think about the 27 countries in the EU, if you think about CPTPP countries, how do we not introduce new impediments to trade moving around the world?
“We will continue to work constructively with the US. The US is obviously 13% of global trade. But there are also other trading blocs that actually are like minded, and we'll continue to keep working hard there.”
On Thursday afternoon and into the evening, Luxon was in Auckland, photographed with a Pepsi can by this side, speaking by phone with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
On Friday, he spoke with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, and later with Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
The flurry of phone calls came after Luxon declared his “vision” to have the CPTPP and EU countries work together to “prevent restrictions on exports and [take] efforts to ensure any retaliation is consistent with existing rules”.
The response from other countries has been muted.
A spokesperson for Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said, “CPTPP engagement with other trade partners, such as the European Union, would need to be considered by the entire CPTPP membership”.
Australia is the current chairing country for the CPTPP.
A statement issued by the EU after the phone call with Luxon said von der Leyen was interested in exploring closer-co-operation with CPTPP countries.
“The president discussed the prospects for closer cooperation between the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in which New Zealand plays a leading role.
“She expressed her interest in exploring this further, as part of her broader commitment to free and fair trade and fostering strong partnerships around the world.”
Singapore’s prime minister, Wong, said of the phone call on social media, “We agreed that as small, trade-dependent and like-minded countries, we must continue working together to uphold the rules-based order and free trade.”
Labour Party trade spokesperson Damien O’Connor said it was a “good idea” to have a coordinated international response to the disastrous situation that loomed.
“At such a difficult time any communication and cooperation has got to be positive. But I'm not quite sure you know exactly what the prime minister had in mind.
“There is a need to build other alliances using CPTPP as the base is a smart move put forward by [Labour’s] David Parker and I know there's been views from Europe thinking the same.
“If we're to rebuild some kind of order around trade internationally, it's likely to be on the base of existing agreements where the US is not party to.”
Trade consultant Stephen Jacobi, a former diplomat, said Luxon was “onto something with all of this”.
“I'm actually very pleased to see that he is taking this sort of initiative. While a lot of the world has focused, of course, on trying to find out ways to get around Trump's protectionism, others should be thinking about, how do we build a better environment for trade.”
He said expanding CPTPP “aggressively” was needed, but with the EU there was a “fundamental reality” that it thought of economic management differently from CPTPP countries. Dialogue between the two still “makes eminent sense”.
Unmentioned by Luxon has been China and Taiwan’s applications to join the CPTPP.
Jacobi said the trade agreement countries should progress applications including China’s, then it can demonstrate whether it will make reforms sufficient to join.
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