As chief of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson honed many of the skills inseparable from the exercise of high-level diplomacy: navigating complex geopolitics and pushing tough negotiations with friends and foes around the world. The question now facing the 64-year-old Texan, as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, is whether he can bring those skills to serve American interests, and break free from the oil industry that shaped him over a lifetime. As the Republican Trump himself put it, in announcing his choice of the chief executive for top diplomat on Tuesday, “his relationships with leaders all over the world are second to none.
“One of those relationships — with Vladimir Putin, who awarded him Russia's “Order of Friendship” in 2013 — was likely a key asset in Trump’s view, as he pushes for a detente with Moscow. But Tillerson’s Russia ties have raised hackles across the US political spectrum, and threaten to severely complicate his approval by the Senate, against the backdrop of intelligence indicating Moscow interfered to try to sway the election for Trump.
Propelled to the position of the Secretary of State to “undo” years of American foreign policy “blunders and disasters”, Tillerson now faces the biggest challenge of his life to translate his business acumen to international diplomacy. From making yet another attempt at resolving Israel-Palestine conflict, on which Secretary John Kerry, has spent considerable time; to engaging the world in the quest to defeat ISIS, building new relationship with Russia, addressing the concerns of countries in the Asia Pacific region against an aggressive and assertive China; and negotiating fresh trade deals with the mandate of bringing jobs back to the country, Tillerson has a tough task ahead of him.
