Peters will hold meetings with members of the Trump Administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“With a guy like Rubio, we’d go in there well prepared because we’ve had, probably now over a year getting ready well before the US elections in November, getting our team ready for a change if there was, and we thought there would be a change to a Trump administration.”
Peters described Rubio as “very experienced” and ”very talented".
He is also meeting with National Security Adviser Mike Walsh and US aide Peter Marocco, to continue to build New Zealand’s ties with the United States.
“Our long-standing record on democracy, freedom, liberty, all the things that the American people regard as being important” would be discussed, he said.
Peters said the ongoing discussions on Aukus Pillar Two will be touched on during discussions.
“New Zealand is not just a spectator. New Zealand has been a significant country over a long period of time where American interests are concerned, and our job is to remind people of that.
“We’re a small country, but an important one and to say that, at the end of the week, we’ve had successful discussions will be enough, providing we’ve got a commitment to take those discussions forward in a seriously meaningful way, both in respect to trade and with respect to security.”
Peters departed New Zealand last week and arrives back on Friday.
**Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the** _**New Zealand Herald**_**, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the** _**NZ Herald**_ **masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the** _**Northern Advocate**_ **in Whangārei.**