Gilbert is helping Harris’ campaign with both fundraising and door-knocking. talked to himself reporter from Pittsburg ahead of Harris’ rally on Tuesday. He said Key’s assessment of both Trump and Harris was “not accurate at all.”

Gilbert was ambassador to New Zealand when Key was Prime Minister and Democrat Barack Obama was President. Key and Obama have met many times and remain in contact. Obama is helping Harris’ campaign.

Gilbert said he and his wife, Nancy, know the Key family well and are good friends.

“(We) have had numerous conversations about Donald Trump, he knows how we feel about it. “Sir John and I probably agree on a lot of things, but he knows we disagree on Donald Trump.”

Key said he thought Trump would have an advantage if he managed to continue the debate on the economy. Polls in seven battleground states reflect a very close race.

Gilbert said he believed it would be a “margin of error race” but his optimism that Harris would win was 9 out of 10 and he said she had a good chance of rallying undecided voters. especially women.

“My belief is that women will vote in record numbers, young people will vote in record numbers, and we will have a very complex ground game. “I think people will be surprised to see how strong his performance was on Tuesday.”

On Key’s assessment of Harris as a left-wing extremist, Gilbert said Harris was “tough as nails” in the US Senate and was also a prosecutor.

“He’s tried drug cartels, he’s dealt with very serious crimes and he’s been very powerful about it. So for anyone to think he is a far-left politician is far from the truth.”

He also argued that it is trite to say only right-of-center or Republicans are good for the economy. He said that under the Democrats, the economy grew and more people rose out of poverty and came into the middle class, and more jobs were created.

“So you believe Donald Trump becoming President would be good for the economy? “He was the first President to lose his job since the Great Depression.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has not commented on who he thinks will win or which candidate is best for New Zealand, saying he will work with whoever wins the election. This was the same response Key gave as Prime Minister when Trump won the 2016 election against Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton.

Asked about the fate of New Zealand’s hopes for a free trade agreement and the higher tariffs proposed by Trump, Luxon said there did not appear to be much political appetite for free trade agreements on either side and he did not see that changing.

“I appreciate that both candidates have proposed numerous policies… My commitment is that we will work in a very positive way with whoever the American people choose.”

He said New Zealand’s preparations included building relationships with both Democratic and Republican politicians in Congress and the Senate, including during a visit to Washington DC earlier this year.

He said that when he had the chance to meet the next President, he would advance New Zealand’s cause as a small trading nation based on the international rules-based system.

Gilbert said trade is not the biggest factor people should consider when deciding whether Harris or Trump is the best choice for the world.

“Donald Trump has demonstrated incredibly authoritarian and dictatorial tendencies and believes he should be able to govern that way. It would be terrible for New Zealand and the entire Western alliance to have someone who doesn’t care about anyone but himself. It would be incredibly dangerous.”

He said Harris gained a lot of experience in international affairs as Vice President during a period that included the Russia-Ukraine war and ongoing tensions in the Indo-Pacific.