Tillerson trying to deliver ‘incremental wins’ for Trump

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday cast himself as a long-term thinker trying to deliver “incremental wins” for a president who he acknowledged wants things done in “very short time frames.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tillerson again sought to tamp down speculation that he is on his way out as the Trump administration’s top diplomat, and vowed to stay in the job “as long as the president thinks I’m useful.”

“Most of the things [President Trump] would do would be done on very short time frames,” he said. “Everything I spent my life doing was done on 10 to 20-year time frames, so I am quite comfortable thinking in those terms.”

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“What I have to do is mesh the way I think about it with delivering what he wants on the time frame that he wants it,” he said.

Tillerson acknowledged to the newspaper that he has been more willing to speak with reporters in recent weeks after reports emerged that his relationship with Trump was on the rocks and that he had once considered stepping down from his top position at the State Department. 

In an unusual news conference earlier this month, Tillerson rejected an NBC News report that claimed he had nearly resigned from his post over the summer, until Vice President Pence intervened to convince him otherwise. 

In the Thursday interview, Tillerson also echoed a stern tone toward China that he had taken a day earlier during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Some aspects of the United States’ relationship with China had “gotten out of whack,” he said, and warned that the U.S. was prepared to force Beijing to curb its activities in the South China Sea and to level out trade imbalances with the U.S.

“We can do this one of two ways,” Tillerson said in the interview, speaking as if he was addressing Chinese officials. “We can do it cooperatively and collaboratively, or we can do it by taking actions and letting you react to that.”

The secretary outlined a broad plan at the Wednesday night event to strengthen cooperation with India, hailing the country’s rise to global prominence as one that has been respectful of the world order and global norms. By contrast, he said, China had grown its international profile “less responsibly.”

The stern talk on China stood in stark contrast to that of Trump, who has taken a gentler tone toward Beijing since taking office in January. Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that Tillerson’s remarks were “of no surprise to China.”