Speech at United States Business Summit 2024

Prime Minister

Ka nui te mihi kia koutou.

Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

Kia ora and good morning everyone.

Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now.

I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy. Thank you for the work you and your team do, each and every day, for the US-New Zealand relationship.

I also want to acknowledge Jonathan Mason, the Chair of the NZ-US Council, and Mike Hearn from AmCham, both wonderful champions for the business relationship.

It's great to see Todd McClay here, too. The hardest working Trade Minister in the world is making one of his rare appearances here in New Zealand!

One of the things that excites me most about the US is the extraordinary well of energy and innovation that exists in the American business community. That energy, that innovation, is something I passionately believe we can be doing more to tap into.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming together this morning. I intend to talk, first, about the role of the United States in the world and, second, about what my Government is doing to re-energise our relationship with Washington DC. Then, I know Fran wants me to take your questions.

I want to speak candidly about the vital role the United States plays in the world, as there are few countries that matter more to our security and prosperity.

In a world that is more contested and more complicated, New Zealand's interests are best served by an America that is strongly engaged. A world where the US acts as a force for stability. A world where the US economy, which accounts for over a quarter of global GDP, continues to act as an engine room for growth. A world where the US acts as the standard-bearer for democratic institutions, for the rule of law, and the power of markets.

Perhaps because we were living in more benign times, previous New Zealand governments have not said enough about the importance of the stabilising security role of the US in the Indo-Pacific. During my travel this year, I've seen the US furnishing security on several occasions.

It was starkly apparent when I visited Korea and the Demilitarised Zone, accompanied by an American General who commands tens of thousands of US soldiers, sailors and aviators in South Korea.

On one side of the DMZ is one of the world's poorest countries, a country organised to serve its autocratic leadership's ambitions. Then, on the side of the Korean border, where I stood, there's a thriving democracy, the world's 14^th-largest economy, the home of world-beating technology firms, and the source of a cultural phenomenon called K-Pop. The difference could not be more marked.

But it was a salutary reminder. South Korea would not be the vibrant economy that it is today were it not for the security partnership on the Korean Peninsula. Something furnished by American forces. Supported by other countries too, including New Zealand, but heavily outnumbered by our US friends.

My visit to the DMZ between North and South Korea in September was a clear illustration to me that there is no prosperity without security. A stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific is not just in the interests of the US and New Zealand. Security is also in your interests as businesses: our exporters depend on safe and secure trade lanes; and your companies succeed best when economies are growing rather than fretting about instability.

In contrast, Russia's illegal war in Ukraine, now supported by North Korean munitions and North Korean troops on the frontline, is an example of where conflict has caused higher inflation and significant economic suffering for people all around the world - unbelievably high energy prices in Western Europe, high grain prices in Africa, and high rice prices in the Asia-Pacific.

Ladies and gentlemen, with many old certainties shifting, the United States remains an indispensable economic partner. America is an extraordinary economic machine. It remains the world's largest economy by quite some distance. And it is an exceptional source of ideas, of innovation, and of investment.

Those who know me will know there is little that energises me more than the vibrancy and inventiveness of American business. With US firms one of our largest sources of Foreign Direct Investment, those businesses are injecting real vibrancy into the New Zealand economy. Whether it's building data centres, as Microsoft has here in Auckland, or Hollywood studios whose productions have created the ecosystem from which the vibrant Kiwi film industry has sprung, or West Coast venture capitalists, enabling frontier firms like Sir Peter Beck's RocketLab to do extraordinary things on the Mahia Peninsula, or even iconic American firms, like McDonalds, that are responsible for so many Kiwis' first jobs - including mine!

American businesses are integral to our society and the functioning of our economy, generating prosperity for us here in New Zealand, and paying dividends for America.

I now want to focus on my Government's ambitions for the US relationship.

You will no doubt all have been waiting for me to comment on the US election and what it means for New Zealand. The bottom line is our relationship is strong and enduring, and will continue to be so, irrespective of changing administrations.

I have the greatest of respect for the Biden Administration's achievements. At APEC, I thanked the outgoing President for his 50 years of public service and leadership, and for the contribution he made to the relationship with New Zealand.

I was also delighted to speak to President-elect Trump ten days ago, now. What came through loud and clear in that call was his fondness for New Zealand. We spoke about world affairs, but we also discussed the need to build on the very deep foundations of our relationship.

Whoever is in office, whether Democrat or Republican, my Government's job is to pursue New Zealand's interests, to fully harness what our two countries offer one other, and ensure the relationship is at its best.

So, you can expect my Government to bring action and urgency across three inter-connected lines of effort with the United States:

• Growing both countries' prosperity;
• Strengthening our security; and
• Deepening our relationship.

I will address each in turn.

The US recently eclipsed Australia to become our second-largest export market. And it's growing exceptionally well: two-way trade is 36 percent higher this year than before the pandemic, with a trend towards value over volume. We offer American exporters open access to our market, with the main driver of growth in our exports being the strength and relative openness of their economy.

Our primary sector remains a mainstay, with nearly $6 billion of safe, sustainable and premium agricultural products sold - exports that often compliment US agriculture producers.

We have also seen phenomenal growth in services trade, with tourism and recreation now a bigger export category than beef.

As a company like RocketLab illustrates, the US is also a rapidly growing market for Kiwi entrepreneurs that specialise in technology and other innovative exports. And our products support a range of critical US supply chains and jobs.

My Government will continue to work with colleagues in Washington DC to sustain that trade and, where possible, to increase it, by tackling the non-tariff barriers that snarl up exporters' trade. We will also work with the Administration to build our economic security agenda.

I am determined that we attract more, quality US Foreign Direct Investment. The US is already our third-largest investment partner. But my Government will improve our regulatory settings to attract moreUS investment flow.And we are pitching directly to American investors. When I was in the US in July, I met a series of them. And I intend to bring a select group of investors to New Zealand in 2025 to showcase what we have to offer.

As I said earlier, there can be no prosperity without security. Besides Australia, the United States is our most important defence and security partner.

We benefit from that partnership, whether that's the US role in supporting a stable Indo-Pacific, sharing intelligence, or busting the organised criminal gangs that prey on our communities.

New Zealand, too, is an active partner making a difference for our friends in Washington DC. New Zealand personnel join the US in operations and exercises from the Middle-East to the Indo-Pacific.

I talked earlier about what we do on the Korean Peninsula. We also cooperate with the US (and other partners) to uphold freedom of navigation, whether in the Red Sea or the South China Sea. These are freedoms crucial for ensuring New Zealand's trade can flow unimpeded.

And our joint membership of the Five Eyes directly contributes to protecting New Zealand's national security interests.

New Zealand welcomes the step-up in US commitment in the Pacific. We will continue to work with Washington DC as a constructive partner for our region.

New Zealand must also remain a credible strategic partner. That's why my Government tasked Defence to complete a capability plan. One that ensures the NZDF is fit for purpose and builds on its capability for tomorrow. That is going to take money, and we all know the economic environment is challenging. So, the Government will need to be careful and thoughtful as we come up with the Defence Capability Plan. In coming months, though, we will announce capability priorities out to 2040.

Ladies and gentlemen, with the Trump Administration coming to power, you can and you should expect us to be investing in building connections. Indeed, that is a focus right now. In addition to talking with the President-elect last week, I used my July visit to build connections with influential Republicans on the Hill and elsewhere in Washington DC. Winston Peters has been doing the same and, as the new Administration unfolds, other ministers will be connecting with their new counterparts, too.

I know from my personal experience just how important those relationships are. They enable us to find new areas of opportunity and they also create the bandwidth to deal with areas of disagreement. There will always be areas of difference between Wellington and Washington DC - whoever occupies the White House. Just as we have things on which we do not see eye to eye with Australia, that is true with the US, too. But these differences are dwarfed by our common interests, and so the relationships we build will enable us to manage those differences sensibly

New Zealanders feel they know the US well - whether through tourism, media, popular culture, sports, business, or education. After living and working for many years in the US, I worry that New Zealanders assume too much about America.

It's imperative that our emerging and future leaders, our entrepreneurs, our scientists, Māori, and people from other walks of life familiarise themselves with what the United States is really about. A young country with one of the fastest growing populations in the OECD, it's not a monolithic place. Rather its layered with sub-cultures and sub-geographies.

America is growing steadily more ethnically diverse, with the population of a State like California now more than 40 percent Hispanic - even while others on the East Coast remain predominantly White. This is a country where the average resident of Mississippi earns significantly less than half as much as a New Yorker. It's a country that can embrace the Olympic phenomenon that is Simone Biles, while at the same time sitting at the feet of the Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

And, in a similar vein, we need to increase the number of influential leaders in the US who know New Zealand better and understand our priorities, too.

Ladies and gentlemen, my Government's focus continues to be on growing New Zealand's economy and easing the cost of living. That doesn't happen by looking inward.

The strength of the New Zealand economy depends on the success of our world-leading goods and services exporters - many of you are here today.

Access to foreign markets remains the key to growing our exports. And, yet, the environment in which we operate is more turbulent than it has been for the past thirty years:

• Enthusiasm for trade liberalisation has waned.
• Efficiency is giving way to caution, resilience and protectionism.
• And global stability and security underpinned by international law is fraying.

New Zealand is not unique in wrestling with these changes. Working with friends and partners is key to protect and promote our interests. I am passionate about the United States. But, through our foreign policy reset, we are bringing new energy and new activism to all our partnerships in other parts of the Indo-Pacific, too, whether Southeast Asia, Japan, or India. These are all consequential relations for our security and our prosperity, too. Just as is China, with President Xi Jinping and I agreeing last week on the importance of sustaining our already strong NZ-China relationship, one where we continue to capitalise on areas of cooperation, while not shying away from areas of difference, which we will discuss in a predictable and consistent manner.

Today's focus is the US, which is and will remain a critical relationship for New Zealand. My Government is primed and ready to work with the incoming US Administration to create new opportunities for both of our countries to benefit. To build the stability and resilience in our region that we both need to safeguard our people, our prosperity, and our freedom of action.

I, for one, am looking forward to that work. Thank you.