US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has started his first trip to Asia in Japan, a country in the frontline of the North Korean nuclear threat.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has started his first trip to Asia in Japan, a country in the frontline of the North Korean nuclear threat.
But as his baptism of fire in crisis diplomacy begins, the former oil executive will likely have to tighten his purse strings.
The White House, eager to boost defence spending, wants to cut the US foreign affairs budget by more than a quarter.
Tillerson says he willingly accepts the “challenge”.
“Clearly the level of spending the State Department has been undertaking in the past, in particular this past year, is simply not sustainable,” he said in Tokyo, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and held talks with Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
