Trump’s secretary of state on the spot on 1st foreign trip

Associated Press

BONN, Germany

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has his work cut out for him.

On his first overseas trip as America’s top diplomat this week, Tillerson will face a blizzard of questions about the Trump administration’s foreign policy from nervous Asian and European allies. And there will be penetrating inquiries from America’s watchful rivals like Russia and China, who will be eager to seize on miscues or gaffes for their own advantage.

Tillerson arrived in Germany late Wednesday for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 nations. He will be playing defense amid the chaos and turmoil caused by the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn for misleading officials about his contacts with Russia.

In Bonn, the Cold War capital of the former West Germany, Tillerson will come face-to-face today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a seasoned and wily diplomat who sparred, often successfully, with past U.S. secretaries of state.

President Donald Trump chose Tillerson for the job in part because of his business experience and relationship with Russia while he was CEO of oil giant Exxon Mobil. His meeting with Lavrov will be a first test of whether that business acumen – which led to great profits for Exxon and Russian President Vladimir Putin bestowing a friendship award upon him – can translate into success in a high-stakes diplomatic arena.