CARLOS BARRIA/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In a rare public statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have had productive meetings with their Mexican counterparts and addressed the key differences between the two neighbors.
The two top Trump administration officials are in Mexico City for a brief trip amid heightened tensions over the U.S.’s new immigration policies, heated rhetoric and insistence that Mexico will pay for a border wall, but Tillerson sought to downplay those differences in the brief statement.
“During the course of our meetings, we discussed the breadth of challenges and opportunities in the U.S.-Mexico relationship,” he said, standing alongside Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray. “In our meetings, we jointly acknowledged that in a relationship filled with vibrant colors, two strong sovereign countries from time to time will have differences.”
He added: “We listened closely and carefully to each other as we respectfully and patiently raised our respective concerns.”
The amicable tone was shared by Videgaray, but he also made a point to highlight those differences.
“In a moment where we have notorious differences, the best way to solve them is through dialogue,” he said.
Tillerson has been notably quiet since he was sworn in last month. The former ExxonMobil CEO has not done an interview or held a press conference, and the department has not resumed its daily briefing for reporters — a fixture at Foggy Bottom that goes back to the Eisenhower administration — since he took office.
The silence has generated headlines that Tillerson and the State Department have been sidelined by a White House that has centralized power, especially on foreign policy decisions. Tillerson did not participate in White House meetings with foreign leaders last week. And top posts at the State Department have still not been filled over a month after inauguration, including the secretary’s deputy.
The trip abroad is the first for Kelly and the second for Tillerson, although it is his first one-on-one visit to a foreign country — a sign of how important the relationship is, according to the State Department.
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