Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has laughed after being asked about Donald Trump's latest comments belittling New Zealand's Covid response during a US television interview.
The US President again included NZ in his rhetoric when comparing how each country was tackling Covid-19.
And when Mr Goff was interviewed on CNN, he couldn't help but laugh.
"I have to say we were somewhat mystified, as we often are, by President Trump's comments," Mr Goff told CNN's Zain Asher.
"A 'big surge' on the day that our cases went up by nine and the United States went up 42,000."
Today, Mr Trump referenced New Zealand a third time this week, labelling the Covid-19 cluster in Auckland a "massive outbreak".
"You look at our mortality rates, you look at all the things - but they like to compare us to others so they were talking about New Zealand," he said. "New Zealand - it's over - it's over for New Zealand, everything's gone, they're beautiful."
New Zealand recorded 11 new cases of Covid-19 today and the US recorded 46,500.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called Mr Trump's comments "patently wrong" earlier this week.
"Obviously I don't think there's any comparison between New Zealand's current cluster and the tens of thousands of cases that are being seen daily in the United States," Ms Ardern said.
The US President has taken to highlighting NZ’s coronavirus response on the campaign trail. (Source: Other)
Mr Goff also told CNN that New Zealand's Covid response was among the best in the world.
"We did do remarkably well, we went 102 days without community transmission and I think we're one of the best performing countries in the world," he said.
The mayor called the latest cluster in Auckland, which plunged his city back into lockdown last week, a "setback" but remains confident it will be short-lived.
"We'll get through it by working together," he said.
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