Jacinda Ardern has played down the stark differences between her views and those of US President Donald Trump.
Ms Ardern said she was just representing the values of New Zealand during her speech to the UN General Assembly where she called for a rebuilding of multilateralism as global leaders look outward and commit to “kindness and collectivism”.
In contrast, Mr Trump used his speech on Wednesday to reject globalism.
Ms Ardern said the speech, which she penned herself, was not a direct response to Trump’s speech as it was largely written before she arrived in New York.
She said the two countries shared political common ground, with both experiencing some "jarring effects of globalisation, we’re just choosing to respond differently".
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"I think it’s important that we always maintain an independent foreign policy line, we need to speak to New Zealand values, regardless of what any other world leader tends to think and their position."
"The fact that we have long had these values, long even before I came into this role, it’s not new, there’s just values of those around us have changed over time."
Asked if she liked the President, Ms Ardern said it was an "irrelevant question".
"I don’t think anyone comes to the United Nations for a popularity contest, we come here to present our nation’s views and I hope I’ve done that."
Ms Ardern said the line, "me too must become we too" was one she had coined in the car too late for it to be included on the prompter.
"It’s just something I’ve been thinking about, that sense of responsibility that we have, particularly when it comes to MeToo, women individually speaking up, using their voice and now I think it’s time for us to turn that into a collective movement and collective action."
She refused to be drawn on Mr Trump’s comments on the women testifying against US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
"You know, I can only reflect on the values that I think we bring in New Zealand, we’re working hard I think to combat issues of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, making sure that we lift reporting of sexual assaults and violence.
"We need to focus on our record because ours is not great but I’m at least proud that we’re confronting that."
She said she was surprised by the applause, given that she had heard the UN General Assembly was "reasonably stoic and not a lot of feedback".
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