Oiling the wheels of state

Rex Tillerson needs to justify US president-elect Donald Trump’s faith in him.

Rex Tillerson’s vast experience gained running ExxonMobil, the world’s sixth largest company, may well qualify him to become an outstanding US secretary of state. But precisely because of that background, his nomination by Donald Trump to fill the most high-profile and internationally influential office in the US administration (after the president) demands close scrutiny by the Senate. Republican and Democratic legislators have raised legitimate questions about Mr Tillerson, particularly regarding his friendship with Vladimir Putin.

His commercial imperatives as an oilman doing deals in 50 countries have been different to those of a US secretary of state. Set against the backdrop of what he describes as his “very close relationship” with Mr Putin, however, it is not reassuring that he trenchantly has opposed the imposition of US sanctions after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Kremlin has welcomed Mr Trump’s election and now Mr Tillerson’s nomination. It wants sanctions ended and its seizure of Crimea endorsed. That would be a mistake. No US administration should allow Mr Putin to get away with his outrageous aggression, much less reward him for it. Leading US senators from Mr Tillerson’s Republican Party, including John McCain (who describes Mr Putin as “a thug, a bully and a murderer”) and Marco Rubio, have said “being a friend of Vladimir” was not an attribute they were hoping for in the secretary of state.

Having good relations with Mr Putin, as Mr Trump wants, may be no bad thing. It has been suggested it could even be part of a grand Trumpian plan to curb China’s ambitions. But Mr Tillerson needs to make it clear he understands the difference between being an oil company boss doing commercial deals and serving as the top diplomat charged with defending and advancing US interests and values. He will need to challenge Russia, in particular, over Middle East policy. Still, Mr Tillerson’s nomination has won significant backing from respected insiders such as former defence secretary Robert Gates and secretaries of state James Baker and Condoleezza Rice. Let us hope he lives up to it.