Christopher Luxon’s rolodex of world leaders got a workout this week, as the Prime Minister took his “fight” for free trade global in the face of the “instability” caused by US President Donald Trump.
Championing something like the free flow of
Christopher Luxon’s free trade ‘fight’: World leaders the Prime Minister is talking to
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Analysis by Jamie Ensor
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter for the NZ Herald, based at Parliament in Wellington.
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He highlighted that New Zealand wanted to work with “like-minded countries” to promote free trade and explore how the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could support that.
“One possibility is that members of the CPTPP and the European Union work together to champion rules-based trade and make specific commitments on how that support plays out in practice,” Luxon said.
“My vision is that includes action to prevent restrictions on exports and efforts to ensure any retaliation is consistent with existing rules. Collective action, and a collective commitment, by a large portion of the global economy would be a significant step towards preserving free trade flows and protecting supply chains.”
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He said he would be on the phone with world leaders “comparing notes on world trade and testing what we can do together to buttress the rules-based trading system”.
It’s understood the Prime Minister still has conversations scheduled with international counterparts later today, but here’s a rundown of those he’s spoken to already.
Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos (President of the Philippines)
A meeting with the President of the Philippines was among the pitstops Luxon made on his first tour of South-East Asia this time last year. The pair agreed to upgrade the two countries’ economic relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership by 2026 (the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations) and forge closer defence ties. The Philippines has been thankful for New Zealand’s support for maritime international law, given the tensions between it and China in the South China Sea.
Two-way trade with the Philippines sat at $1.56 billion in the year ending December 2024, making it our 21st trading partner. In a joint statement last year, they committed to “further eliminating unnecessary barriers to trade” and expressed desire to achieve “a mutually beneficial increase of 50% in two-way trade by 2030”.
The Philippines is a party to other groups like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that New Zealand wants to strengthen economic ties alongside. As part of the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Agreement (AANZFTA), 90% of New Zealand’s trade to the Philippines is duty-free.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Luxon said the pair discussed “how we can continue to work together to support free and fair trade” during their phone conversation.
“We also checked in on the great work that our two countries are doing to take our relationship forward.”
Marcos called it a “good and meaningful conversation” and said the two countries’ “strong relationship and cooperation for the peace and development of our region will continue”.
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Anwar Ibrahim (Prime Minister of Malaysia)
Another key partner in South East Asia, Luxon visited Malaysia and met with Ibrahim in September of last year, during which the pair expressed ambition to increase the value of two-way trade by 50% by 2030. In the year to December, it was valued at $3.96 billion, making Malaysia our 10th-largest trade partner. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says Malaysia’s large population and likelihood of it becoming a “high-income economy by 2028” means there is “plenty of opportunity for growth”.
A joint statement following the Prime Ministers’ meeting said officials were conducting a scoping exercise prior to launching a review of the two countries’ free trade agreement, to find areas where relations could be enhanced. As well as being a member of Asean and RCEP, Malaysia is also part of the CPTPP.
In January 2016, tariffs on 99.5% of exports to Malaysia were eliminated; 99.8% of exports now enter duty-free. The remaining tariffs are expected to be removed by 2033 under the CPTPP.
The Malaysian leader said on X the pair spoke “about US trade tariffs”.
“I reaffirmed Malaysia’s and Asean’s commitment to prioritising negotiations, and emphasised the importance of Asean unity in coordinating our response. I also highlighted Malaysia’s initiative to host a special Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting today to further discuss this issue and develop collective solutions.”
He said they discussed the “importance of strengthening regional cooperation, including coordinating our response to the US tariffs”.
“Malaysia and Asean will continue to discuss and engage in dialogue with New Zealand as well as other key trading partners to develop an inclusive strategy to overcome these challenges for the benefit of regional economic prosperity.”
Luxon noted the Malaysian leader would chair the meeting of Asean this year.
“We had a great discussion on how we can work together to support free trade by the rules.”
Phạm Minh Chính (Prime Minister of Vietnam)
Vietnam was one of the countries hardest hit by Trump’s tariff onslaught, slapped with a 46% levy. That prompted the Vietnamese government to send deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc to Washington DC to find a pathway forward.
Prime Minister Luxon visited Vietnam earlier this year to meet with Chính and announced the two countries would upgrade their economic relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The two-way trade is valued at $2.91 billion. Vietnam is our 14th-largest partner. A joint statement said the pair wanted to reach USD$3 billion in 2025.
“Both sides re-dedicated themselves to deepening regional economic integration. The two sides pledged their unwavering support for the rules-based, free, open, transparent, and inclusive multilateral trading system, including reform of the World Trade Organisation.”
Prime Minister Luxon on Thursday called Vietnam “an important partner for New Zealand”.
“I’ve just finished a productive discussion with Prime Minister Chinh about how we can continue to work together to support the rules-based trading system.”
The Vietnamese Government issued a statement saying its leader shared “recent efforts in engaging with the US regarding the issue of reciprocal tariffs” and suggested “both sides work together to develop an action plan on the implementation of the new partnership framework”.
“Pham urged Vietnam and New Zealand to enhance information sharing, cooperation, and close coordination within trade frameworks to which both countries are signatories,” including AANZFTA and CPTPP.
Lawrence Wong (Prime Minister of Singapore)
In his speech yesterday, Luxon highlighted the proposed P3 trade agreement in the early 2000s between New Zealand, Singapore and Chile that eventually developed into the CPTPP.
“Three small countries, practising what we preach – and doing everything we could to create opportunity for our people through trade,” he said.
Luxon visited Singapore last April just as its long-serving leader Lee Hsien Loong announced he was stepping down. He also met with Wong, who Luxon would have breakfast with again in October on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
Singapore is New Zealand’s fourth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued in the year to December 2024 at $10.31 billion.
The two countries last year agreed to cooperate on a new phase to the Singapore-New Zealand Enhanced Partnership and agreed to elevate the relationship by the end of this year. That partnership had five pillars, including “trade and economics”, “security and defence” and “people-to-people links”. A sixth was added last year: “supply chains and connectivity”.
“Under the pillar, the Prime Ministers announced a package of new initiatives to further strengthen supply chain connectivity and food security, expand commercial partnerships in food and agriculture, promote investment opportunities, and strengthen cooperation on cross-border trade facilitation matters.”
Luxon said on Thursday the two countries “take trade seriously because we know it is the way to grow our economies”.
Wong on X said the pair “agreed that as small, trade-dependent and like-minded countries, we must continue working together to uphold the rules-based order and free trade”.
He said he would visit New Zealand later this year and elevate relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Sitiveni Rabuka (Prime Minister of Fiji)
As the leader of one of New Zealand’s closest partners, at least geographically, Rabuka and Luxon have regular contact and exchanges at forums. The pair spoke on Friday morning to compare notes on the global economy, and “the risks here in the Pacific”.
“We agreed on the importance of free trade by the rules to give businesses predictability and certainty,” Luxon said. “New Zealand is committed to working with our Pacific partners to make our region even more prosperous and resilient.”
Two-way trade with the island nation was valued at $1.4 billion in the year ending December, the 22nd-largest for New Zealand. During a visit to Fiji last June, Luxon and Rabuka set a goal of $2b by 2030.
Micheál Martin (Taoiseach of Ireland)
The Irish leader since January, Martin has already had a sit-down with Trump in the Oval Office during which the US President highlighted the “massive” trade imbalance between the two nations.
Luxon hasn’t visited Ireland yet as Prime Minister, though he will travel nearby to the United Kingdom later this month to meet with British leader Sir Keir Starmer.
But Luxon has consistently held up Ireland as a country to follow when it comes to economic policy. In his State of the Nation speech this year, Luxon said the Government had modelled its new Invest NZ foreign investment agency off successes seen in Ireland and Singapore. Two-way trade with Ireland sits at $1.35 billion, the 25th-largest partner for New Zealand.
In an X post, Luxon said he and Martin “discussed how Ireland and New Zealand can support the international rules-based trading system, which is vital for our economic growth”.
“It was great to compare notes on the energy transition, digitising government, and our ambitions for education, too.”
Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission)
The European Union’s response to Trump’s tariffs has been among the most anticipated. It was initially saddled with a 20% tariff, which was then brought down to 10% amid the so-called “pause” announced this week. The EU then suspended its retaliatory tariffs for 90 days.
Given the rapid developments in recent days – and the involvement that would have required by the European Commission President – it could be considered a success for Luxon to get phone time with von der Leyen on Thursday afternoon.
Labour’s David Parker on Sunday suggested the EU could join the CPTPP to strengthen the international rules-based trade order. From Luxon’s remarks yesterday, it’s clear he believes New Zealand and other CPTPP countries can work more closely with the EU on trade.
The Prime Minister told media that for the EU to join the CPTPP it would need all 27 member countries to sign up “and that could take some time”.
“But it’s just making sure that if there’s opportunities where we can actually create an environment where free trade can take place or create an environment where we actually continue to remove the irritants and frustrations around trade and get rid of those non-trade tariff barriers and a whole bunch of other things that we could be working on, let’s at least explore that opportunity.”
New Zealand signed a free trade agreement with the European Union in 2023, that came into force in May 2024. Two-trade with the EU was valued at $20.17 billion in the year to December 2024.
In a post last night, Luxon said: “New Zealand and the European Union are both supporters of sustainable trade and the rules that enable it”. He said he discussed with von der Leyen “what the EU and New Zealand can do together to support the trade rules that underpin Kiwi jobs and growth”.
A readout issued by von der Leyen after the call said she “underscored the importance of predictable and fair conditions for international trade and praised the strong partnership between the European Union and New Zealand—highlighting the ambitious Free Trade Agreement, which will mark its first anniversary this May”.
“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.”
They agreed to meet in person at the earliest opportunity.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.
