Thursday, 05 October 2023 13:15

Gaffes galore

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Champagne corks would have been popping around the Pacific and New Zealand last week when President Joe Biden, reading from a statement at a summit with Pacific Island leaders, said that he was working with US Congress on a US$40 billion infrastructure initiative for the region.

But there was a slight problem. Biden had misread; the US is giving Pacific Islands only US$40m.

That wasn’t the only gaffe corrected on the official transcript released by the White House. He failed to read the acronym for the Pacific Islands Infrastructure Initiative.

And a few minutes later, he also announced a new agreement signed with ‘Puala’; he meant the tiny Pacific state, Palau.

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