Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has had his first face to face encounter with US President Donald Trump at a leaders’ dinner hosted at the APEC Summit in South Korea.
It is the first face to face meeting between the pair, but they have spoken on the phone once previously.
Trump and Luxon met briefly before the dinner began and came out together joking with one another — Trump telling Luxon in front of international media — “your hair is beautiful” – after Luxon remarked about South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung previously giving him “grief” about his hair.
Trump reveals what he thinks of NZ, shares a joke with Luxon – watch on TVNZ+
Luxon tweeted following his meeting saying:
“Good to meet with President Trump in South Korea. New Zealand and the United States have a strong relationship and today we met to talk about how we can make it even stronger.”
Donald Trump joked with Christopher Luxon in front of international media, saying “you’ve got beautiful hair!” (Source: Breakfast)
Trump made several references to how beautiful New Zealand was, saying he’d visited a long time ago and would never forget it.
“It’s such a beautiful place,” Trump said.
Luxon wouldn’t discuss specifics about his meeting with Trump, saying he wanted to respect the privacy of the conversation.
“I can reassure you that the US administration is very, very clear of the New Zealand position on tariffs,” he told reporters. “Equally, we are very, very clear about their position on tariffs as well.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has had his first face to face encounter with US President Donald Trump at a leaders’ dinner hosted at the APEC Summit in South Korea. (Source: 1News)
The dinner was hosted by Korea’s leader Lee Jae Myung and was also attended by the leaders of Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, and Australia.
Trump will meet with China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday as the two superpowers work to resolve their trade war.
