Wellington: Visiting US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was in for a surprise when plenty of middle fingers was flipped at the American motorcade for quitting the Paris climate deal.


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"I've been in motorcades for a couple of years now... I've never seen so many people flip the bird at an American motorcade as I saw today," according to New York Times correspondent Gardiner Harris.


Tillerson landed in Wellington as an add-on to his recent trip to Australia.


He is the first senior member of the Trump administration to visit the country. 


About 200 protesters with the climate change action group 350 Aotearoa gathered outside Parliament on his arrival, as per The Guardian. 


Greenpeace New Zealand referred to Tillerson as Trump’s 'henchman'.


Tillerson later allayed local fears about US becoming more isolationist and about US President Donald Trump being 'unpredictable', as per New Zealand Herald.


New Zealand remains committed to the Paris agreement and its target to cut emissions by 11% of 1990 levels by 2030.