• A fake social media post is circulating appearing to show US President Donald Trump calling New Zealand a “Third World country'.
• Foreign Minister Winston Peters swiftly called the post ‘fake’.
• It is the second time in February that Peters has been forced to say a post by a US politician was fake news.

An awkward diplomatic incident has been avoided after a fake screenshot circulated online of a doctored Truth Social post in which US President Donald Trump calls New Zealand a “Third World country”.

The fake post was created to appear as if the 47th President said: “Lyin’ Chuck Schumer is at it again – with the help of Alex Soros (Little Georgie) scheming to undo all the GREAT WORK my administration is doing to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has dismissed the post as “fake”.

Schumer is the Democratic Senate minority leader and a long-time adversary of Trump. Alex Soros is the son of Jewish philanthropist George Soros, a target of many anti-Semitic online conspiracy theories.

Trump continued his post, saying “We found thousands of cases of fraud, and bad for them, receipts.

“Little Georgie funnelled millions and billions of taxpayer dollars to Third World countries like New Zealand and Congo.”

Foreign Minister Winston Peters quickly dismissed the post, calling it “fake”.

“We have seen debate online about a purported social media post by US President Donald Trump which mentions New Zealand,” he said in a tweet.

“The post in question is fake. People should check their facts before spreading disinformation online.

“The United States is one of New Zealand’s closest, most important partners and we look forward to building it further under the Trump administration.”

This dismissal comes two weeks after Peters was forced to call fake news about a claim made by a US politician.

On February 1, Texas Senator Ted Cruz shared an article by Israeli newspaper Haaretz suggesting Israelis coming to New Zealand needed to declare their military service before visiting.

Cruz said it was “difficult to treat New Zealand as a normal ally within the American alliance system, when they denigrate and punish Israeli citizens for defending themselves and their country from Iranian-controlled terrorists”.

Peters quickly replied, saying the Haaretz article was “fake news, Senator @TedCruz. We are demanding it be corrected”.

“Israelis do not need visitor visas to travel to New Zealand, let alone have to declare their military service.

David Williams is an Auckland-based multimedia journalist who joined the Herald in 2023. He covers breaking news and general topics.