Tillerson says he and Trump act as 'one team' — Here are 8 big issues on which they totally disagree
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In a press conference on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that he and President Trump are "one team with one with mission."
But the two have rarely seen eye to eye, and in many cases their disagreements have become public through leaked private conversations, contradictory talking points, and unfiltered tweets by the president himself.
In many cases, this has led to deep divisions between Trump and Tillerson on major domestic and international policy issues and prevented them from presenting a unified front in diplomatic circles. Here are eight of the biggest and most important issues that they diverge on:
America's approach to North Korea
In perhaps the most direct public dispute between the two leaders, Trump disavowed Tillerson's diplomatic approach toward North Korea on Twitter.
One day after Tillerson stated that he was trying to open the door for talks with North Korea while on a trip to China, Trump undermined his efforts, tweeting, "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”
Trump and Tillerson have repeatedly clashed over the proper way to handle North Korea's aggressive stance toward the United States, with Trump favoring military action and Tillerson hoping to use back channels to reach a consensus with the bellicose country.
Given that North Korea now has both the capability to fire long-range missiles at the US and has access to nuclear weapons, the stakes for determining the most prudent strategy toward the country are startlingly high.
The US position on the Qatar crisis
In June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar over its alleged funding of terrorism, magnifying fears of even greater political instability in the Middle East.
Tillerson stated that he hoped the Middle Eastern countries could "sit down together and address these differences," adding that the diplomatic show of force would not have "any significant impact, if any impact at all" on the "fight against terrorism in the region or globally."
Trump, however, offered his own take.
"During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology," he tweeted. "Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"
Trump later announced on Twitter that he and Tillerson had come together to "call on Qatar to end its funding" of terrorism, even though such a consensus had never been reached. According to one of Tillerson's associates, the secretary of state was "absolutely enraged that the White House and State Department weren't on the same page."
The Iran nuclear deal
As a presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly promised to leave the Iran nuclear deal if elected.
Tillerson, however, has taken a more nuanced approach to the agreement, and has acknowledged that he and the president do not see eye-to-eye on the issue.
"He and I have differences of views on things like JCPOA, and how we should use it," Tillerson stated, using the acronym for the official name of the Iran deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The secretary of state was thus taken aback when he heard that Trump had made a decision regarding the deal, as the two were supposed to weigh their options in person.
"I have decided," Trump told reporters on September 20. "I'll let you know."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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