Tillerson Hits The Road and Finds His Feet

The crisis in Qatar offers a test of the U.S. secretary of state’s skill as a roving diplomat

- Nick Wadhams, with Nafeesa Syeed

At the start of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson showed a rare flash of impatience during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. As Lavrov started complaining about the loss of a reserved parking space outside the ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., Tillerson cut him off. “We’re going down here, Sergei,” Tillerson said, making a swirling down-the drain motion with his hand, according to two people who were in the meeting. His point: He wasn’t there to talk about petty grievances.

Tillerson suggested that his boss, President Donald Trump, take an equally direct approach in his sitdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin a few hours later. Trump did so and began the meeting by raising the issue of Russia’s election meddling, according to a senior Department of State official familiar with the meeting. Putin and Trump spent the next 45 minutes discussing the elections and cyber security, the official says.