Ardern says she didn't laugh with other world leaders during Trump's UN speech

September 26, 2018

The Prime Minister said it's up to Americans, not her, to decide how truthful the President's speech was.

While members of the UN General Assembly laughed at US President Donald Trump's speech this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stated she wasn't one of them.

Ms Ardern spoke to media after a busy day in New York, where the US President spoke to the United Nations about Iran and boasted of his administration's success since taking office.

The latter saw some members break into laughter , forcing Mr Trump to stop and acknowledge he "wasn't expecting" such a reaction.

But Ms Ardern said she wasn't one of the one's amused by the comments.

The Prime Minister has been busy at the UN and doing interviews in New York.

"You'd have to ask some of the people that responded," she said when asked if the UN was laughing at or with the President.

"I didn't laugh. I was listening to the words being spoken... The President made a statement around his view around his success relative to past presidents.

"For me, I was respecting the fact he had the floor and what he had to say."

When asked if she agreed with Mr Trump's statements, the Prime Minister said she acknowledged the "significant" financial support from the US.

"Each president will take their own view of their relative position in history. It's not for me to judge. It's for the American people to judge."

Ms Ardern is due to speak at the UN later this week and said she'll take a different approach.

"New Zealanders, as self-deprecating as we are, never tend to talk about ourselves in particularly grandeur statements. I certainly wouldn't.

"I think it's up to our voters to determine our place in history."

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