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The Prime Minister has personally thanked outgoing US President Joe Biden for his half-century of public service as he prepares to vacate the White House.

Chris Luxon met with the current President at a Gala dinner in Apec last night.

“It was a good chance to say: Thank you, we appreciate you,” Luxon told travelling media.

“He has a lot of time for New Zealand - he really appreciates the role New Zealand plays and he says we have really stepped up our intensity and urgency in the relationship in the region as well.”

Luxon did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Biden during his whirlwind trip to the Peruvian capital of Lima for the summit.

And although the President-elect was not at Apec, questions lingered as to how the 21-economy agreement will be impacted by President Trump.

But Luxon said this question was not raised with him by any world leaders - he said he met with all 21 over the course of the weekend.

Closer to home, the Prime Minister was also frank about the unknowns of a Trump Presidency for New Zealand.

“We don’t quite know what the policies of that administration will be”.

Trump has threatened to increase taxes on imports to the US upon assuming office. Unless New Zealand can receive a carve-out, such a move would impact New Zealand’s $14 billion worth of exports a year to United States.

Luxon, however, said this is not his focus while at Apec this year.

“The reality is, it’s not up to me, in the spirit of free and fair elections, to make comment about internal American decisions the populous makes about who gets to represent them."

“In the same way I wouldn’t expect them to make comments about who gets to represent the New Zealand people as well.”

He said that from New Zealand’s point of view: “It is what it is”.

“The American people have spoken and have made their decision. That is the leader they have selected and it’s my job to push on and make it work for New Zealand.”

Meanwhile, Luxon has revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping directly raised his Government’s concerns around New Zealand joining the AUKUS agreement.

AUKUS is a security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, centred around the Pacific region. As part of that deal, Australia was provided with nuclear submarines by the US.

But New Zealand is only interested in the non-nuclear pillar II part of the pact, which would allow the Government into an intelligence-sharing agreement with the other AUKUS countries.

Luxon met with President Xi Jinping on Saturday morning, where Luxon said he raised New Zealand’s involvement as an issue.

“China has concerns around what they see as tension in the region that’s also coming from the US, or what’s coming through AUKUS,” Luxon said.

“They don’t particularly see that as a positive from their perspective in the region. We would disagree, we do think it gives regional stability and security.”

Asked if he was worried if there would be any repercussions from China if New Zealand joined AUKUS, Luxon said that “is not a consideration for us”.

“We’re going to do this objectively, very dispassionately.”

But Luxon noted that New Zealand is still in the exploratory phase of joining the military pact - saying it’s still “some time away” figuring out what New Zealand gets out of the agreement, is a “slow burn”.

Luxon’s now headed back to New Zealand, and will arrive in Auckland on Monday morning.