Tillerson Never Clicked With Trump as Policy Views Diverged
- Trump frequently undercut his chief diplomat on Twitter
- Tillerson clashed with Kushner over Middle East policies
Tillerson Fought to Keep Job Before Ouster by Trump
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his aides always downplayed their differences with the White House, but the gap that separated them was obvious from the start.
There were the policy disagreements that Tillerson made no secret about: he favored staying in the Paris climate change accord and opposed blowing up the Iran nuclear deal. He preached balance and calm during a crisis in the Middle East between a Saudi Arabia-led bloc and Qatar, while Trump came down on the side of the Saudi leadership. All along, he urged caution and diplomacy in North Korea.