Published July 15, 2026 at 10:08 AM HST

The new U.S Ambassador to New Zealand has settled in the country's capital of Wellington. He's expected to travel to his other diplomatic missions in Niue, the Cook Islands and Samoa in the coming weeks.

Jared Novelly is a St. Louis native who owns an Australian basketball team. He told reporters last week that the Cook Islands, with their deep-sea resources, were "either 1a or 1b on my priority list."

He added that the Cook Islands have one of the richest deposits of cobalt.

Radio New Zealand quotes him as saying that 90% of the metal is currently refined in China.

But after more than a decade of U.S. exploration in the Cook Islands and new agreements from the beginning of the year, Novelly stopped short of saying whether he would push for exploration licenses.

At his Senate confirmation hearing in March, Novelly promised that, in his words, "all U.S. businesses will have a friend in the Ambassador's office" in Wellington.

He praised Samoa for its increased caution in taking on debt with China. Novelly also said that he would promote that cautionary message for all Pacific nations, adding that China wants a military base in the Pacific.

Radio New Zealand said the United States has “disrupted” about $25 billion of international aid. In its place, the U.S. is pushing a “trade over aid” platform that promotes free market reforms in developing countries.