Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that there are days where he feels like he needs to “curl up in a ball.” 

“Yeah, some days I feel like I need to do that. Curl up in a ball,” Tillerson said during a visit to Geneva, Switzerland, while observing a sculpture that depicted two people curled up into a ball. 

{mosads}While Tillerson laughed as he made the remark, it comes as tensions have reportedly risen between the president and the top U.S. diplomat.

NBC News reported earlier this month that Tillerson had referred to Trump as a “moron” during a meeting over the summer with national security officials, and that Vice President Pence was forced to defuse the tensions and convince Tillerson not to quit.

Tillerson then denied that he was contemplating stepping down from his diplomatic post.

“The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of State because I have never considered leaving,” he said. 

The report also came shortly after Trump confronted Tillerson’s strategy on North Korea on Twitter, tweeting it was a waste of time negotiate with North Korea even after Tillerson said he was pursuing a diplomatic solution with the U.S. adversary. 

I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017

…Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017

However, Tillerson on Friday emphasized that he and the president are regularly communicating. 

“This is the normal way I do things when I go out on the road, is we sit and talk before I leave, and I spoke to him on Friday right before I headed to Andrews [Air Force Base]. So if something comes up along the way, obviously, then we can talk,” the secretary said in Geneva. He is currently on a multicountry trip representing U.S. interests in Pakistan, India and Switzerland. He also made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday.

“We develop the policy, the president approves it, and then it’s up to me. My responsibility is to go out and execute that policy,” Tillerson said.