Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has triggered a debate with his recent assertion, in a speech to State Department employees, that pushing American values, such as freedom and human dignity, when conducting foreign policy can be an obstacle to defending U.S. economic and national security interests.

In a world in which nations engaged primarily in commercial relations, with “as little political connection as possible,” an ideal espoused by George Washington in his Farewell Address, this wouldn’t be an issue. But in our world it is. Sometimes we need to ignore other nations’ faults, while making clear what our own values are; we saw this in practice over the weekend in Saudi Arabia.