New Zealand is once again feeling the fallout of a geopolitical crisis. With a de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in place, oil prices soared past the $US90 per barrel mark after New Zealand’s close of business on Friday. Little sustained relief is in sight, particularly after Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the Gulf …
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This week’s high-profile visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to Washington DC is another reminder of the enduring centrality of the Gulf. The trip by MBS reciprocates US President Donald Trump’s own travel in May to Saudi Arabia, the first scheduled foreign trip of his second term. The tour echoed Trump’s inaugural …
Christopher Luxon is heading to Asia for a diplomatic double-header. New Zealand’s Prime Minister is attending both the East Asia Summit (EAS) gathering in Malaysia and the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in South Korea. This year, the events are being held just days apart, making participation in both meetings especially convenient. For …
It could have been worse – but it could have been better. That was the message from New Zealand’s trade and finance ministers in their initial response to Donald Trump’s new, higher ‘reciprocal tariff’. New Zealand exporters of most goods to the United States now face a 15 per cent import duty, a significant increase …
Israel’s strikes against Iran will form the backdrop to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s upcoming trip to China. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the strikes at a scheduled press conference on Friday, Luxon characterised the strikes by Israel as ‘potentially catastrophic for the Middle East’, observing ‘the last thing this region needs is …
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the character of Aotearoa-New Zealand, and …
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the United States presidency on 5 …
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week will be the …
Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga, mana motuhake, a declaration of independence, partnership under Te Tiriti: these are all staples of Māori political mobilization. A succession of political movements – over the last 100 years Ratana, Mana Motuhake, the Māori Party, Te Pati Māori – have upheld the cause, with erratic political success but enduring moral, social …
Donald Trump’s sweeping election victory has set the stage for this year’s APEC summit in Peru. At least 14 leaders have so far confirmed their attendance at the leaders’ summit in Lima from November 15-16. China’s Xi Jinping, Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Canada’s Justin Trudeau will all be in Peru – as …
New Zealand’s new free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council is a major win for both sides. Todd McClay, New Zealand’s trade minister, announced the long-awaited deal on Thursday with his counterparts in Doha, Qatar. It is a remarkable, yet also surprising sudden success: the genesis of the agreement lies in talks that began …
Former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins admits that the series of scandals leading up to last year’s election contributed to Labour’s large defeat. In Back on Track, a new book on the 2023 New Zealand election, being launched today, Hipkins says “A succession of ministerial scandals didn’t help the mood that was already hardening against our …
Change is coming to America. Next month’s elections are likely to pave the way for an overhaul of US foreign policy– regardless of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the presidency. Decisions made in Washington will also have a direct impact on Wellington. While the Biden administration started its term with a strong, even …
New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are moving closer together – at record pace. Just a year after agreeing to enter initial talks, Wellington and Abu Dhabi have concluded negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (or CEPA for short). The deal will go down as one of New Zealand’s fastest trade negotiations. …
Declining trust in New Zealand politicians should be a warning to them to lift their game. Results from the New Zealand Election Study for the 2023 election show that the level of trust in politicians has once again declined. Perhaps it is not surprising that the results, shared as part of a presentation on Trust …
New Zealand is not just on the same page, but is now in lockstep with Australia. That was the general theme of keynote foreign policy address by New Zealand’s Prime Minister to a Sydney thinktank on Thursday. Christopher Luxon’s 20-minute speech took a decisively hawkish tone. The Lowy Institute address restated and reiterated recent positioning …
As tensions in the Middle East rise further, New Zealand’s approach to the region continues to evolve. Neither Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, nor foreign minister Winston Peters were immediately keen to comment publicly about Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On social media, Luxon instead promoted the Government’s recently introduced tax …
Christopher Luxon is finding his foreign policy feet. Now eight months into the job, New Zealand’s Prime Minister is in Washington DC this week to attend the NATO summit. It is the third year in a row that Wellington has been invited to the annual gathering of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the West’s premier …
Don’t put it all at risk. That’s likely to be the take-home message for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in his meetings with Li Qiang, the Chinese Premier. Li’s visit to Wellington this week is the highest-ranking visit by a Chinese official since 2017. The trip down under – Li is also visiting Australia …
To truly understand yesterday’s Budget, it’s worth returning to a statement made in 2020 by the then British High Commissioner Laura Clark that New Zealand has “Scandinavian ambitions in terms of quality of life and public services, but a US attitude to tax”. Her point is that New Zealand politicians want an economic setting that …