Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sir John Key: Former Prime Minister talks Donald Trump's victory and impact on NZ

Transcript

Sir John Key: Former Prime Minister talks Donald Trump's victory and impact on NZ · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a pretty resounding victory for Donald Trump. Obviously the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: votes have still been counted, but the first time since
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds that a president has made on consecutive
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: return to the oval office. Not just that, but at
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the moment, winning the popular vote, flipping the Senate, likely
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to keep the House, and you've got the keys to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the White House. John Key is, Sir John Keys, the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: former Prime Ministries with US is in San Francisco at
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the moment, Sir John, Welcome to the show.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Ron, How are you very well?
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you? What are you thinking about what happened last night?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think there's a few things. I mean, Firusly,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: you've got to give Donald Trump some credit for what
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: has been a very comprehensive when they's supported about he's
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: really taking control of every every part of government really
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: from Congress right through.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Secondly, I'm not as surprised. I mean, I know, from
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: a New Zealand perspective and from a lot of the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: media's perspective, they couldn't understand that, they couldn't see it.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: But you know, once you've got polls indicating that, you know,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: two thirds or if not more, of the country think
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: you're going in the wrong direction when the big issues
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: are the issues you're campaigning on this in this case
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: with Donald Trump, they were the economy, you know, the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: border and law and order. Then it changes very likely
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and then I think the last bit of it, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it's a bit I think everyone's really struggled to understand.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: And Donald Trump really said that last night when he
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: was talking, is that this is a movement. And I
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: think a lot of us might feel uncomfortable with it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: We might not like it. There might be elements of
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: it that we just can't understand. But truthfully, there is
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: a movement happening around the world. And I think you've
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: seen it a bit with Brexit. You certainly seen it
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: with Donald Trump and the grouping behind him, and you know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I mean say, you can feel, you know, all sorts
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: of emotions about that, but you can't deny that it's happening.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: It also turns, does it not, the identity politics on
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: its head a bit. You've got a billionaire who's getting
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: support from the struggling middle class. You've got a Republican
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: who's getting union workers. You've got a white old man
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: who's getting an increased share of black and Latino voters.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's what I mean. I think the question is, well,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: what brings all of those groupings together, What are making
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: those people say, you know, President Trump is my president,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: He's the person I want to see in the White House.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: How they totally together because they're very disparate groups.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: But it's all of that.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's right, fiercely one. They are doing it
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: really tough. I mean, it's easy to be on the
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: West Coast or the East coast and that's all left
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: fland and great. But actually out there in middle of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: America and rust belt of America, those flyover estates, people
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: are shrugging from paycheck to paycheck and we can sit
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: around talking about globalization, lost things. They just say, the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: system makes fair, it's broken, and it's left me behind.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: And I think there's something weirdly in Donald Trump's personality.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: He is a bit of a brawler, a bit of
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: a fighter. He kind of identifies with these people. And
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I was saying someone earlier, I mean, this is a
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: guy who gets shot in the head. You can't fake
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: this stuff. And he gets up in the first reactions
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to say fight, fight, fight.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: No one else in the world does that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Right. I mean there's nothing, there's something in there about it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: And I'm not idolizing. I'm just saying it's real that
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: there's a movement.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And there's nothing sanitized about him like there often is
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: about other politicians. What about the terroriffs? This is our
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: big worry this morning. You've got exporters, the primary industries,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: waking up in New Zealand thinking, oh god, we are
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: about to be hit by ten twenty percent. We don't know.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Plus you've got the trade war potential with China. How
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: worried should we be here?
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, I don't think there's any doubt that Donald Trump
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: will delivered what he said, which is an America First policy.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: On the other side of the Queen, the positive news
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: is we had long we have a long seating relationship
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: as historical allies, we're part of the Five Eyes Agreement.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: We are seen as a sort of friendly country, and
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: I think there'll be good political relations between the New
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Zealand government and the new administration. I think there will
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: be some tariffsam He's talking about sixty percent potentially in
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: China and ten to twenty percent around.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: The rest of the world.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: But of course there has some quite big repercussions, not
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: only for us, but actually for the consumers that pay that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: So I wonder whether that might be tempered a little
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: bit actually, and then the counterargment. All of it is
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: as you can see the stock market reaction. You know,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the US economy for at least for a period of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: time is going to be very stimulatory, and it is
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: going to spend money, it's going to invest, and the
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: capital markets is going to be very vibrant. So you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: there is some downsides for New Zealand. I'm not trying
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to sugar tope that. And they do consume me because
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: we need trade.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: But I think won't all be the won't all be negative.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: It won't all be one way traffic.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: What does Luxeon need to do right now to try
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and get us in Trump's ear? Do you think that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: we can use the primacy to get a special deal here,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a special exception?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Well, the thing it can help. I mean, as I said,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: you know, we do have a very good relationship and
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: to a certain degree, you know, Donald Trump's been notorious
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: for being a deal doer. I mean, like I think
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: they like New Zealand. We're a little country.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: A lot of what they buy from us they need anyway.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm not sure we're going to be hammered
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: like like you know, there'll be some other countries which
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: would be much more concerned and worried.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: I think the New Zealand would be.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: So yeah, Look, I think the government's just got to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: do it. It's job is ZOO, which is to form
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the best relationship it can with any administration. I mean,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: the people of New Zealand and the government of New
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Zealand doesn't elect the President of the United States of America,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: whoever that person is, but it's their job to have
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the best relationship they can and you know who knows.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: We'll see how it all plays out.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much a for your time, Sir John.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I'll let you get back to your day in San Francisco.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: No worries mate, all of this.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Sir John Key, former Prime Minister.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: to News Talks.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio.