Donald Trump to pick Exxon Mobil's Rex Tillerson to head State Department: reports
Updated
Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, 64, will be US president-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, according to multiple US media outlets.
Key points:
- Rex Tillerson, 64, is CEO and president of Exxon Mobil Corp, with Russian joint ventures
- Trump calls Tillerson "a world class player"
- Republic and Democrats concerned about Tillerson's ties with Russia, including 2013 Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin
Mr Trump will confirm his selection for the role on Tuesday (US time).
The selection of Mr Tillerson, who is known as T-Rex in the energy industry, could prove controversial, given his strong ties to Russia.
In an interview aired on Fox News on Sunday, Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson was "much more than a business executive".
"I mean, he's a world class player," Mr Trump said.
"He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor. It's been a company that has been unbelievably managed.
"And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia."
Mr Trump called Republican Mitt Romney — another candidate for the top diplomatic job — to tell him he would not get it.
Mr Romney wrote on Facebook it was an honour to have been considered.
Mr Tillerson's appointment shows two things about Donald Trump, according to James Brown from the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
"First of all, he's not worried about pushing him through confirmation in the Senate. That's going to be difficult, given Tillerson's views on Russia and [his] relationship with Putin," Mr Brown told the ABC.
"The second thing is that he's taking a gamble on the fact that an ability to cut incredible deals in the commercial world translates to the diplomatic and strategic world. That's not always been the case."
Mr Brown says Mr Trump will need to have a degree of establishment support for his presidency to work, but some of his appointments are surprising, even for his own supporters.
"There's been a surprising degree of antipathy towards Tillerson from some of the more right-wing supporters of Donald Trump, who don't see the appointment of one of the richest corporate figures in America as draining the swamp," he said.
In a separate development, Mr Trump was expected to pick former Texas governor Rick Perry as his nominee for energy secretary, a source told Reuters.
Mr Perry met Mr Trump on Monday at Trump Tower in New York.
Concerns over Russian ties
Republicans and Democrats said Mr Tillerson, who is also president of Exxon Mobil Corp, would be asked about his ties to Russia, having met President Vladimir Putin several times. He won fresh praise from Moscow on Monday.
Mr Tillerson oversees Exxon operations in more than 50 countries, including Russia, and has opposed United States sanctions imposed on Russia for its seizure of Crimea.
In 2011, Exxon signed a deal with Rosneft — Russia's largest state-owned oil company — for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.
Mr Tillerson and Rosneft chief Igor Sechin announced plans to begin drilling in the Russian Arctic for oil as part of their joint venture, in spite of US sanctions.
In 2013, Mr Putin bestowed a Russian state honour — the Order of Friendship — on Mr Tillerson, citing his work "strengthening cooperation in the energy sector".
High-profile Republicans to voice concerns about Mr Tillerson include senator John McCain, a leading foreign policy voice, and senator Marco Rubio, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would review a Tillerson nomination.
Renewed allegations of Russian hackers meddling in the November 8 election, coupled with Mr Trump's stated admiration of Mr Putin, have stoked concern.
Washington is at odds with Moscow over a range of issues that include Syria, Ukraine and NATO's presence in eastern Europe.
During Mr Trump's presidential campaign, Democrats and long-time government officials voiced alarm when Mr Trump repeatedly praised Mr Putin.
However, Mr Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told two television network morning shows on Monday Mr Tillerson has long and appropriate ties with top Russian officials.
"It's not like Vladimir Putin and Rex Tillerson are pounding down vodka at the local bar. They're not intimate friends, but they deal with each other through business interests," she said.
Mr Tillerson is, however, one of the few people selected for roles in the Trump administration to believe human activity causes climate change.
After Mr Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement and said it favoured a carbon tax as an emissions-cutting strategy.
ABC/Reuters/APTN
Topics: us-elections, world-politics, business-economics-and-finance, climate-change, united-states, russian-federation
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