President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be replaced with CIA Director Mike Pompeo following reports of ongoing tension between the two.
The New York Times reported in December that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly had developed a plan to replaced Tillerson with Pompeo, but the president denied the report.
Tillerson's departure had been widely anticipated for months, but State Department officials said Tuesday in a statement that Tillerson "did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason" for his dismissal.
Pompeo will be replaced at the CIA by his deputy, Gina Haspel. She would become the first woman to run the agency.
The relationship between Tillerson and Trump has been strained by name-calling and public disagreements on multiple major issues.
Here are five times Trump and Tillerson publicly disagreed on an issue:
1. When Trump criticized Tillerson's approach to North Korea and "Little Rocket Man"
In October, President Donald Trump publicly contradicted Tillerson's stance on a North Korea and tweeted that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump's nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
"Save your energy, Rex, we'll do what has to be done," Trump wrote, and warned of U.S. military action to the country's escalating nuclear threat.
Trump also told reporters during a photo op at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course: "As I said, they will be met with fire, fury and frankly, power – the likes of which the world has never seen before."
This was one day after Tillerson, who would rather avoid military use to reach a consensus with the country, said he was trying to open the door for talks with North Korea.
Others in Congress also spoke against Trump's approach.
"North Korea is a global threat that requires American diplomacy," said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, who labeled Trump's talk "dangerous and risks war."
2. When the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate accord
In August, Tillerson publicly disagreed with Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a pact to voluntarily curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"I was free to express my views. I took a counter view to the decision that was made," Tillerson said.
The United States is now the only country that has rejected the global pact, according to the Times.
3. When Trump blamed "both sides" for the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally
Following the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally of white supremacists that resulted in the death of rally protester 32-year-old Heather Heyer, Trump blamed "both sides" for the deadly violence.
Heyer was killed when a neo-Nazi drove a car into her and other demonstrators at the rally.
The president's comments were widely criticized. United Nations experts, without explicitly naming Trump, said it was "a failure at the highest political level of the United States of America to unequivocally reject and condemn racist violence," the Times reported.
Amid the backlash to Trump's comments following the attack, Tillerson addressed State Department interns and staff.
"We do not honor, nor do we promote or accept, hate speech in any form," Tillerson said at the event. "Those who embrace it poison our public discourse, and they damage the very country that they claim to love."
When asked whether Trump's response represented "American values," Tillerson said on Fox News, "The president speaks for himself ... I have spoken. I have made my own comments as to our values as well in a speech I gave to the State Department this past week."