(Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he’s concerned that China may still give up on trade talks with the U.S., even as the two countries come closer to a resolution to end their dispute.
The administration of President Donald Trump hasn’t been willing to deal with China in a language that the other country wants to listen to, Tillerson said Wednesday in an on-stage interview at a conference in Houston organized by KPMG LLP.
"Mutual respect, win-win solutions, these are things they want to hear and they’re not hearing those," he said, in a one of his first public appearances since he was fired from his cabinet role in March last year. "It makes it hard for them to adjust themselves."
The danger for Trump is that China decides to wait for his successor before truly committing to a resolution to the trade war, according to Tillerson.
“If I had a concern about it, it’s that the Chinese I hope do not come to the conclusion that they can’t make a deal with this administration," he said. “We’ll just wait for the next one. I hope that’s not what they’re moving to, I don’t believe it is.”
The comments are some of the most detailed so far from Tillerson, 67, since he was fired from his cabinet job last year. The former Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM). chief executive officer broke his post-White House silence in December to talk about the president’s "undisciplined" leadership style. That drew a rebuke from Trump.
Tillerson also said at the Houston event that he’s concerned about the U.S. moving to bilateral discussions and that it’s undermining alliances built up with other countries over the past 70 years.
“I have some concerns about moving to strictly bilateral discussions that we are undermining or weakening that very strong alignment that’s been knitted together over the last century,” he said.
Global allegiances are a key U.S. strength and should be maintained, according to Tillerson.
"Russia, China, North Korea have no allies and friends," he said. "Our strength comes from allies and friends."
(Updates with Tillerson comments in fourth paragraph.)