The full story
The clearest policy difference between the parties is the Vaiusu wharf. HRPP's 2016–21 manifesto promised it, and its 2025 platform listed it again; Fiamē said in May 2021 she would cancel it over its scale and debt implications and confirmed the cancellation in July 2021. 78910 The foreign ministry had described it as a proposed grant project with a 2017 preliminary estimate of US$87 million, while contemporary reporting put it near US$100 million; the figures disagree on scope. 1110 Relations with China otherwise continued: cooperation agreements in May 2022, a mutual visa exemption signed 23 January 2025, a grant-funded police academy and a fingerprint laboratory. 121311 Debt to the Chinese government was SAT$233.9 million in June 2025 and SAT$204.3 million in June 2026; total government debt fell from SAT$760.4 million to SAT$690.8 million over the same year. 6 In May 2026 Laʻauli said the new SAT$16 million Salelologa courthouse would be paid from government revenue, not overseas aid. 14
Australia remains the largest bilateral donor. The Australia–Samoa Bilateral Partnership Arrangement was signed on 22 March 2023 and the patrol boat Nafanua III was handed over in Perth in November 2023 and arrived in Apia on 19 January 2024; in December 2024 the Chinese-built police academy was designated a Pacific Policing Initiative forensics centre. 15164017 On 24 February 2026 the two prime ministers signed cyber-cooperation and Pacific-policing memoranda; the cyber support is AUD2 million over three years and no figure was given for policing. 1 Australian aid was AUD65.1 million in 2024–25 and is estimated at AUD55.2 million for 2026–27, a budget figure rather than money spent. 18
With New Zealand, the change that reached families came from Wellington: the Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Act took effect on 26 November 2024 for people born between 13 May 1924 and 1 January 1949. 1920 New Zealand's department reported 2,011 grants by 30 June 2025 and 2,294 by 30 November 2025. 2122 FAST's 2025 platform promised better visas, and Laʻauli has pressed for waivers and raised updating the 1962 Treaty of Friendship. 82324 Luxon's March 2026 visit produced agreements on crime and education but nothing on immigration, and July 2026 talks on the treaty, labour mobility and the seasonal-work scheme were discussions, not a revised treaty. 224 From 1 June 2026 Pacific visitor-visa fees fell temporarily from NZ$216 to NZ$161. 25
With the United States, an Open Skies air-transport agreement was signed in Apia on 2 March 2026 and entered into force on signature; it covers air services, not immigration. 326 Japan completed its Apia port improvement in June 2018 (JPY3.315 billion), signed notes in February 2024 for the National University's health-science facilities, and on 26 February 2026 for up to JPY436 million of automated weather-observation equipment. 27284 The EU's Samoa Agreement was signed in Apia on 15 November 2023 and has applied since 1 January 2024; the EU allocates EUR13.5 million for Samoa's water and climate programme, under which the National Drought Policy was launched on 23 February 2026. 293031 On 16 October 2026 Samoa and India signed a grant memorandum for the SENESE disability project, with no amount reported. 32
Regionally, the Forum endorsed the Blue Pacific narrative in 2017, in HRPP's time, and the 2050 Strategy in July 2022. 3334 Fiamē in 2022 refused a region-wide China pact without regional discussion. 12 Samoa hosted CHOGM on 21 to 26 October 2024 and Fiamē became Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, an office that passed to Laʻauli with the prime ministership until the November 2026 handover. 35363738 Samoa was represented at ministerial rather than leader level at the Forum leaders' meeting in Palau from 31 August to 3 September 2026. 39
On labour mobility, Laʻauli announced on 18 to 19 February 2026 a cap on recruitment, citing the loss of teachers, nurses, police and hospitality staff, with departmental figures of 3,000 for New Zealand, 3,000 for Australia and 1,000 for American Samoa and district involvement in selection. 5 Australia counted 2,550 Samoan PALM workers in November 2025, a stock on that date rather than annual departures. 40 No measure of what the cap did to departures, remittances or domestic staffing has been published. 5 FAST's 2025 platform also promised to expand consulates and let Samoans abroad vote; the Electoral Commissioner's 2023–28 plan records that scholarship students overseas were unable to vote, and no overseas voting has been introduced. 841