Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is in Hawai'i leading a cross-party delegation tour of the Pacific. Photo: Supplied
The foreign minister is not commenting further about his criticisms of "military language" such as "trade war", saying he will deal with domestic matters when he is back in New Zealand.
Winston Peters has criticised Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for not consulting him before calling world leaders to discuss trade, and said some of the language being used was "hysterical" and "short-sighted".
The prime minister, meanwhile, has downplayed suggestions of a rift between him and his deputy on trade, saying it was a "media beat-up" and all of his ministers were on the same page, in that they did not want to see a trade war.
"We've got a very consistent position around the tariffs and trade war," Luxon said. "What we're saying very clearly is we don't think that's in New Zealand's interests. All of us are aligned on that. All of us are aligned on having a cool, calm and collected approach to it, which is what we've done over the course of the last week."
When asked why he did not consult the foreign minister before making a foreign affairs speech last week, Luxon said he was talking about trade.
The speech on the Beehive website is titled "'Speech on foreign affairs and trade'."
Luxon said there were multiple ministers involved in the government's "trade agenda", including himself, Peters, Todd McClay, Nicola Willis and Judith Collins.
"I don't expect to be consulted on every single decision, every single speech of any given minister, and I certainly don't plan to run my speeches past every other minister as well."
In Hawai'i, Peters was asked further about the comments, but told RNZ Pacific he was dealing with "foreign matters" while he was offshore, and would deal with "domestic matters" when he was back.
"You tell the Press Gallery back home I'm in Hawai'i now, dealing with our offshore issues, and when I get back home, I'll deal with their domestic issues. Put it that way, because you're far more important over here finding out what's going on in Hawai'i, than to answer to them. And tell your producers that as well, from me personally."
Could take months to play out - finance minister
Finance Minister Nicola Willis echoed Luxon, saying the government wanted to stay cool, calm and collected in the face of the rapidly changing global trade situation.
Speaking to RNZ's First Up on Tuesday, Willis did not say whether she thought it was a trade war.
"I think this is something that's going to play out over days, weeks and possibly months, and what we've seen over the past week is changing positions pretty rapidly every day."
She said it was important not to overreact to any one thing, "but to continue to pursue the interests of our exporters, to continue to promote free trade, and to do everything we can to make sure New Zealand comes through this as well as possible".
'Grow up' - Hipkins
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Peters and Luxon should "grow up" and sort out what New Zealand's response is so they stop "embarrassing" us on the world stage.
"I don't think it helps New Zealand internationally to have our foreign minister and our prime minister publicly squabbling about what our position should be," he told Morning Report on Tuesday.
Hipkins said he had used the words "trade war" in his talks with Luxon.
"There's certainly a battle going on there, whether you call it a trade war, a tariff war or whatever it is, there's a massive conflict around trade between the US and China at the moment, and, and the rest of the world is being caught up in that.
"I think the US tariffs applied around the rest of the world aren't going to be great for world trade either."
There were possible upsides for New Zealand, Hipkins said, with the US putting up barriers to trade.
"There could be some upsides to New Zealand if products that would have otherwise have gone to the US end up coming to New Zealand cheaper.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
"But on the other hand, for our exporters it won't be great, particularly for those who are exporting into the US market.
"The overall global economic downturn as a result of tariffs could be very damaging for New Zealand, but it's still pretty theoretical at this point and we won't know for a wee while longer exactly how that's all going to shake down."
Hipkins said trade agreements like the CPTPP (which China has expressed interest in joining) and RCEP (which includes China) urged Luxon to get on the phone to China promptly.
"I think the fact that he hasn't spoken to China I think is a problem. China is our largest trading partner, the second largest economy in the world - if you really want to talk about rules-based international trade, you know, if the biggest economy in the world don't want to be part of that conversation, you'd certainly be wanting to talk to the second."
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