Jacinda Ardern is gearing up for her first test as PM by taking on high-level negotiations at this week's APEC conference.
Ms Ardern will be the youngest world leader attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum by eight years, and one of only three women.
TPP
She was interviewed today by Reuters about the task of taking the TPP agreement to the table to negotiate looming issues of the deal.
"Whilst we are absolutely pro-trade, recognise the benefits within this agreement for our exporters at the same time we see a real responsibility to come in and make sure the agreement is in the best interest for New Zealand," Ms Ardern said.
"We had concerns over ISDS clauses and so we're giving a mandate to our negotiators to try and improve those on behalf of New Zealand."
Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) means some investors can take countries to court over rights given thorough a treaty agreement.
Ms Ardern stressed the Labour-led government coming to TPP negotiations "this late in the day" seeking "better" outcomes from the TPP.
"Changing a negotiating position at this time is obviously difficult. We will always pursue the best interest of our exporters, whilst at the same time getting the right outcomes for the rest of NZ and our right to regulate."
Ms Ardern said there were a number of states seeking an outcome to the TPP from meeting at APEC, but she thought there would be an indication of whether that would actually eventuate "once we're on the ground".
New Zealand's relationship with China
Ms Ardern was asked about the government's stance on foreign ownership and immigration having a potential negative impact on New Zealand's relationship with China.
"Labour's history with China is a long one, we negotiated the Free Trade agreement which has tripled two-way trade," she said.
"We're in a position now when we're about to review the FTA, that's an opportunity for us to renew and refresh those commitments. The relationship is important for us, strategically and economically."
She said Beijing had "similar restrictions" on foreign buyers, and that it was "unusual" for New Zealand to not have any of those restrictions in place already.
"We are very much a country that is outward looking. that needs and desires trade, seeks new trade opportunities."
"At the same time we also recognise the need to ensure we are allowing those who are residents to have access to basic things like housing, that's the balance that we're striking and that we're focused on."
"We have a view on trying to ensure foreign direct investment is going into our productive economy, rather than into our overheated housing market."
Ms Ardern revealed possible restrictions around investment of rural land are also being looked at.
Immigration
Ms Ardern said Labour "never had an immigration target", and as the immigration policy is not in their 100-day plan there will not be any announcement on cuts soon.
"We came up with a policy during the election that we felt matched the immigration settings that New Zealand needed with our circumstances. We were then asked what the impact of those changes be, we made estimates around those impacts, they were only ever estimates," Ms Ardern said.
Prior to the election Labour promised to decrease immigrant numbers from the annually net migration to June 2017 level of 72,400 by about 20,000-30,000.
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