Rex Tillerson’s Downsized Vision for U.S. Diplomacy

Rex Tillerson’s Downsized Vision for U.S. Diplomacy
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives to speak to State Department employees, Washington, May 3, 2017 (AP photo by Jacquelyn Martin).

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson finally met with the State Department’s workforce to outline how President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda applies to foreign policy. In his remarks, Tillerson focused on the core mission of national security. He insisted that American values still matter, but was clear that the U.S. is no longer in the business of promoting those values as universal aspirations. It’s a big loss for American influence in the world.

When the State Department employees gathered last week to hear from their boss, they were braced for more details about budget cuts and downsizing. Instead, they heard Tillerson’s views on how America First relates to the department’s work. Tillerson described the State Department’s mission as protecting national security and promoting economic prosperity. Full stop.

He acknowledged that this pursuit of self-interest need not happen at others’ expense, and that partnerships and alliances are critical to the pursuit of those security and economic objectives. But the absence of a more ideals-driven mission—from preventing conflict, to assisting other states and their citizens to achieve economic growth as well as more inclusive and effective governance—was striking. He conceded that, in some cases, Washington “should condition [its] policy engagements on people adopting certain actions as to how they treat people.” But the main takeaway from his remarks was that American values are American, not universal, and the U.S. has no ambition or expectation that others adopt them.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review