"If I could have helped shape foreign policy to protect the country I love, I would have been more than willing to do so," Mitt Romney wrote. | AP Photo Romney: Trump open to alternative views and critics

Mitt Romney on Saturday offered a "personal perspective" on being in the running to be President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of state — saying it's a sign Trump is open to "alternative views and even to critics."

In a letter to the editor published in The Salt Lake Tribune, the former GOP nominee wrote he would have been willing to help "shape foreign policy to protect the country I love" despite criticizing Trump during the election cycle.


"I was indeed very critical of Donald Trump during his campaign. But now he has been elected president and accordingly, if I could have helped shape foreign policy to protect the country I love, I would have been more than willing to do so," the former governor of Massachusetts said.

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was ultimately selected as Trump's pick for secretary of state.

Romney and Trump traded insults throughout the campaign season. Romney called Trump a "fraud" and "phony" and also said a Trump presidency would cause "trickle-down racism." The president-elect called Romney a "stiff" who had begged for Trump's endorsement in 2012.

"I was more than a little surprised that the president-elect reached out to me to potentially serve as secretary of state of the United States. I see it as a welcome sign that he will be open to alternative views and even to critics," Romney continued in the letter. "As the country's next president, I earnestly hope that he will be successful in fostering greater prosperity and peace. I believe all Americans can join in that wish."