Elon Musk just said Rex Tillerson could be an 'excellent' Secretary of State

Tesla CEO Elon Musk just gave a surprising endorsement for Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO, for Secretary of State. 

Musk tweeted that Tillerson has the potential to be an excellent Secretary of State in a reply to an Economist article published in December titled "Give Rex a chance."

"Rex is an exceptionally competent executive, understands geopolitics and knows how to win for his team. His team is now the USA," Musk said on Twitter.

Musk acknowledge that his endorsement may be "surprising" on Twitter. Considering Tesla makes zero-emissions vehicles and recently made a big investment in solar energy, surprising may be somewhat of an understatement.

This story is developing.

NOW WATCH: Tesla is powering an entire island with clean energy