Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had a simple answer when he was asked Sunday about the purpose of President Trump’s first foreign trip.
“The primary reason we’re here today is to confront this threat of terrorism,” Tillerson told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think the way you address those human rights issues and women’s rights issues is to improve the conditions in the region. I think the conditions in the region are under a lot of stress because of the threat of terrorism,” he continued.
Tillerson explained that while Trump will use his trip to address human rights and women’s rights, those issues are a nonstarter if countries cannot address the threat of terrorism.
“If we do not defeat these forces of evil, there will be no conditions under which we can even hope to improve the human rights for all of the people in the region,” he concluded.
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