WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States can’t always condition its foreign relationships and national security efforts on countries adopting U.S. values like human rights.
He spoke to a State Department Wednesday eager for answers about changing priorities and a sweeping, impending overhaul.
Tillerson did not provide employees any details about the 2,300 jobs he plans to eliminate or how his proposed cut of roughly a quarter of the State Department budget might affect operations.
But Tillerson offered the most extensive elaboration yet of the meaning of President Donald Trump’s “America First” mantra, adopted during the campaign and carried into the White House.