Nukes Not the Issue

State Department spokesman, Phillip Reeker, dismissed claims that NZ’s anti-nuclear policy was a barrier to a free-trade agreement with the US on his recent trip to Wellington. “If you want to re-examine that policy, that would be great. We would love to be able to cooperate more fully with New Zealand as we did in the past. But those are decisions New Zealanders have to make and we respect your decisions and we’ll continue to have a solid relationship regardless of your decisions.” He also insisted that a free-trade agreement was not the “be-all-and-end-all” of US-NZ relationship.