About Rex Tillerson
Rex Tillerson served as U.S. Secretary of State from February 2017 to March 2018. During his tenure, he described the administration's approach to North Korea as a "peaceful pressure campaign," which he said was the same as what President Donald Trump called the "maximum pressure campaign." Tillerson stated that the re-designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in November 2017 was a step to hold the country accountable for actions including assassinations and the use of banned chemical weapons. He said the sanctions were having an effect, citing fuel shortages and reduced revenues, and expressed hope that the pressure would lead Kim Jong Un to reverse the nuclear weapons program.
Tillerson was fired by President Trump on March 13, 2018, and announced he would delegate his responsibilities to Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan to ensure a smooth transition. In his farewell address to State Department staff, he said the department had "exceeded the expectations of almost everyone" with the North Korea pressure campaign and noted accomplishments including ceasefires in Syria and the adoption of a South Asia strategy. He also said Russia must "assess carefully" its actions, warning that continuing on its current trajectory could lead to "greater isolation." In his final remarks, Tillerson told staff that Washington "can be a very mean-spirited town" but that "you don't have to choose to participate in that."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Rex Tillerson's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Senator Udall0:00
Well, while you were CEO of Exxon, the company website stated, and I quote here: 'The risk of climate change is clear and the risk warrants action. Increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere are having a warming effect. There is a broad scientific and policy consensus that action must be taken to further quantify and assess the risk.' That's the end of the quote on your website. I understand that if confirmed, you will be serving under President-elect Trump. But do you still personally stand by this statement today? Yes or no?
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Rex Tillerson0:36
I do not take exception to that statement. I might articulate it a little differently as to my personal views, but the President-elect has invited my views on climate change. He's asked for them. He knows that I am on the public record with my views, and I look forward to providing those, if confirmed, to him and discussions around how the US should conduct its policies in this area. Ultimately, the President-elect was elected, and I'll carry out his policies in order to be as successful as possible. But I think it's important to note that he has asked, and I feel free to express those views.
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Senator Udall1:17
Thank you. During our meeting, you expressed support for a carbon tax as one preferred measure to address issues of climate change. Will you continue to work with the Congress on this complex issue and to make this a priority in the State Department if you are confirmed?
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Rex Tillerson1:36
Well, when it gets to tax policy, that's going to be the responsibility of other agencies to conduct. My role at State would be only to deal with those issues that are relevant to treaties or international accords that we've entered into, in terms of our continued compliance with those and participation in those. So that would be the area that I'll be most engaged in. And my understanding in the discussion with you in my office, and I think you said you were going to talk about this publicly if you were asked questions, you came to the carbon tax conclusion doing a very thorough analysis of everything that was out there, whatever was trying to bring down carbon emissions. You looked at everything and then you concluded the best recommendation was to move forward with a carbon tax. Is that correct?
The analysis that I went through, which was largely informed by a number of studies, economic studies by academic institutions and others, was during the time that the Congress was debating the cap-and-trade approach, which in my view had not produced the result that everyone wanted in Europe. So we had a working model in Europe that we had been watching, and ExxonMobil had been participating in that model. The debate around cap-and-trade as being the option versus something else is what stimulated the question for me of, 'Well, if this isn't working, what might?' And so that began the investigation of other alternatives. One of the important elements of even considering something like that as a solution, though, are two other aspects. One is that it replaces the hodgepodge of approaches we have today, which are scattered, and some of which are through mandate, some of which are well-intended but ineffective incentives. So let's simplify the system. This is the one and only effort we're going to undertake to begin to try to influence people's choices. And then the second qualifier I've always placed on it is that revenues from a carbon tax, if it were put in place, have to be revenue neutral. All the revenues go back out into the economy through either reduced employee payroll taxes, so that because there will be impacts on jobs, mitigate that by reducing the impact by putting it back into the economy. So none of the money is held in the federal treasury for other purposes. This is simply a mechanism to incentivize choices people are making. It's not a revenue raiser.
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Senator Udall4:26
Thank you very much, Mr. Tillerson.
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Senator4:28
Mr. Tillerson, as Senator Udall did an outstanding job of teasing this out, the one thing that wasn't stated though: what would you succinctly state your position, your personal position, as it relates to climate change?
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Rex Tillerson4:43
I came to my personal position over about 20 years as an engineer and scientist, understanding the evolution of the science. I came to the conclusion a few years ago that the risk of climate change does exist and that the consequences of it could be serious enough that action should be taken. The type of action seems to be where the largest areas of debate exist in the public discourse. I think it's important to recognize the US has done a pretty good job.
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Senator5:13
This is not quite as I was hoping. Would you... it's my understanding that you believe... Mr. Tillerson, human activity. You believe human activity, based on your belief in science, is contributing to climate change?
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Rex Tillerson5:33
The increase in the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are having an effect. Our ability to predict that effect is very limited.
