BEIJING — The brand new U.S. ambassador to China, former senator and enterprise government David Perdue, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, simply days after China and the U.S. agreed to a brief break of their damaging tariff battle.
Perdue mentioned on X that it’s an honor to symbolize President Donald Trump as ambassador.
“I’m able to get to work right here and make America safer, stronger, and extra affluent,” he wrote.
Perdue, 75, had a protracted profession as an government in corporations from clothes to retail. He was based mostly in Hong Kong as head of the Asia operations for Sara Lee Corp. and later was president of the Reebok athletic model and chairman and CEO of Greenback Common shops.
A Republican, he was a senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021 and ran for governor of the state as a Trump-backed candidate in 2022 however misplaced within the Republican major.
Chinese language International Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian mentioned China was able to “present comfort” for Perdue to carry out his duties.
“We now have all the time seen and dealt with China-US relations based mostly on the ideas of mutual respect, peaceable coexistence, and win-win cooperation. We hope the US facet will work with China in the identical path,” Lin mentioned at a each day information briefing.
The U.S. reached a weekend cope with China to scale back sky-high tariffs on one another’s items, an settlement U.S. President Donald Trump has known as a victory.
The U.S. agreed to chop the 145% tax Trump imposed final month to 30%. China agreed to decrease its tariff on U.S. items to 10% from 125%. The decrease tariff charges got here into impact on Wednesday.
Worldwide, markets have responded to the settlement with gusto, rebounding to the degrees earlier than Trump’s tariffs, however many enterprise homeowners stay cautious.
Together with tariffs and China’s large commerce surplus with the U.S., the 2 have tangled over safety within the South China Sea, which China claims nearly in its entirety.
The U.S. has additionally been a harsh critic of China’s crackdown on human rights in ethnic areas resembling Tibet and Xinjiang and in Hong Kong, and is a robust supporter of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China says is its personal territory and threatens to invade.
With the 90-day tariff suspension being a notable exception, relations have hit lows not seen in many years. A reminder of that was Perdue’s predecessor Nicholas Burns’ order this 12 months banning American authorities personnel in China, in addition to relations and contractors with safety clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese language residents, a throwback to the Chilly Battle.
Perdue was confirmed by the Senate on April 29. Whereas within the Senate, he served on the Armed Providers, International Relations, Banking, Price range, and Agriculture committees. He additionally chaired the Subcommittees on Sea Energy and State Division Oversight and “traveled extensively to strengthen U.S. partnerships throughout Asia, the Center East, and Europe,” in line with his official biography.
He was born in Warner Robins, Georgia, and grew up on his household’s farm. He and his spouse have two sons and three grandsons.
