ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has made his debut at the G195 this week, a newly formed diplomatic junket of the world’s top 195 economies, where he met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines.
The summit, hastily convened in a function room above the Potomac Valley Rugby Club in suburban Washington, was established to address global economic instability, the crisis in the Middle East and the promotion of US cultural hegemony in English-speaking nations.
Prime Minister Luxon, who arrived on a red-eye Air New Zealand flight to Los Angeles before transferring to Spirit Airlines flights via Dallas and Atlanta, reportedly greeted President Trump with a firm handshake and the offhand comment, “Jeez, you’ve kicked up a real din here, Donnie.”
The remark was captured by a lapel mic worn by a nearby Togolese delegate and has since circulated among journalists and diplomats attempting to translate the idiom.
The Kiwis are travelling on a strict budget, they arrived at the summit in a silver Toyota Corolla hired from Dulles Airport. The vehicle is being shared between New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu. According to sources, Tonga and Samoa, described as “big in stature” by observers, were assigned the back seat, forcing Luxon’s chief of staff to lie sideways in the boot.
Trump, reportedly unaware of who Luxon was but knew where he was from, later described the interaction to Fox News as “a very strong odd encounter with beautiful man but he was lead to believe they speak English there.”
A spokesperson for the New Zealand delegation confirmed the Prime Minister stands by his use of public funds to hire a car, telling state media in New Zealand that he’s sick of catching public transport while overseas on business.
More to come.
