McClay welcomes US young leaders delegation (+video)

They may not all see eye to eye, especially after last week's election result,
but what they all could agree on was New Zealand was a beautiful country and they were happy to be here.

Arriving just after Donald Trump was elected the new President of the United States the delegation from the American Council of Young Political Leaders will be in New Zealand until November 20 as part of an exchange with the New Zealand Speaker's Office.

The delegation consists of seven "emerging political and policy leaders from throughout the United States", with both Democratic and Republican party affiliations.

Visiting Rotorua yesterday were former mayor and current council member of Mountain View, California, Chris Clark, Motion Picture Association of America external affairs vice-president Greg Saphier, North Carolina House of Representatives member Mandy Norrell, Springfield, Illinois, Sanganon County Board member Catie Sheehan, Ohio State Representative - House District 50 - Christina Hagan, director of government relations for International Gaming Technology Jacopo Namari and Pennsylvania House of Representatives 54th district member Eli Evankovich.

It was the first visit to New Zealand for all of them.

Rotorua MP Todd McClay hosted the visitors on a visit to Skyline Rotorua as Minister of Trade, saying he would hold a formal discussion about trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and trade relations in general.

"Obviously we need to let the new President settle into office and put his new Administration in place," Mr McClay said.

"America is our number one importer of beef and wine and their visitor numbers are increasing, they are very big spenders ... so it's important to secure trade deals in the near future.

"No doubt there will be a new trade deal but it will take time to see what form that will take," Mr McClay said.

The group were in a relaxed mood and said while there were political differences among them they could all share a few laughs.

"We are getting delightful insights from New Zealanders about their hesitations and anxieties, and also their hopes with the new Administration," Ms Hagan said.

Mr Saphier said the broad goal of the visit was to provide cultural exchange and foster meaningful relationships into the future.

"That's definitely been our experience so far," he said.

They said travelling together was also a great way to understand each other and their own political ideologies.

The group also visited Waiotapu and Hobbiton in Matamata and will make their way to Wellington and the South Island in the next few days.