The Prime Minister is gearing up for a massive week in the United States - capping off her jam-packed programme with the most-coveted of invitations - the White House visit.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in California on 27 May. Photo: AFP
However, there has been another major setback this morning with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs chief executive and secretary Chris Seed reporting he has Covid-19 just two days before the scheduled meeting with President Joe Biden.
Seed tested positive in San Francisco, just before delegation was due to fly out to Washington DC.
A member of the broader delegation tested positive a few days ago and is still isolating. California Governor Gavin Newsom also announced he had Covid-19, the day after holding an outdoors event with the prime minister in San Francisco over the weekend.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said Seed had mild symptoms and had been testing negative throughout the trip until last night, which included before the event with the Newsom.
The timing couldn't be worse for Jacinda Ardern to be without her top diplomat at such a high stakes meeting. New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States Rosemary Banks will likely step in for Seed.
It's the pinnacle of diplomatic contact - a chief-to-chief discussion in the Oval Office - and as the meeting fast approaches, the topics to traverse are only mounting.
Ardern has billed her trip as a trade mission and she has promised to push hard for the US President Biden to come back to the trans-Pacific trade pact.
PM Jacinda Ardern with California Governor Gavin Newsom. Photo:
"We've been open about our view that that the CPTPP is the best way that the United States can join, and strengthen the economic resilience of our region."
The pleas are likely to land on deaf ears with both the left and right in the US sceptical of the deal.
Trade Minister Damien O'Connor acknowledges as much, saying expectations are low.
"Discussions with with politicians and political leaders - they're not in a position to engage on that at this point, IPEF is an opportunity to deepen the discussion on infrastructure, decarbonisation, supply chains."
One of the reasons the government is not giving up on the dream is the ongoing tension between the US and China.
New Zealand would like to see the US increase its involvement in the Indo-Pacific to counter China's increasingly aggressive moves in the region - most recently, signing security deals with the Solomons and now Samoa.
In recent months, both the US and New Zealand have been accused of neglecting the Pacific island nations.
Gun reform is also likely to be high on the agenda in the presidential meeting - with the US still reeling from last week's tragic Texas school shooting.
The subject has been thrust to the forefront of Ardern's engagements given New Zealand's own experience with the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019 and its subsequent overhaul of firearms legislation.
For the PM it is a tricky diplomatic dance, highlighting her values while avoiding lecturing another country on its domestic policies.
It has been a whirlwind of a trip, jam-packed with engagements, but the big prize comes in a few days' time in Washington DC.
Nothing is ever easy though - the Prime Minister's own bout of Covid-19 delayed her own departure from New Zealand, and made it much more difficult.
Neither of these cases is likely to have put the Prime Minister at risk given her own recent infection.
Another twist in the turbulent ride to the White House.
