BEIJING — The new U.S. ambassador to China, former senator and business executive David Perdue, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, just days after China and the U.S. agreed to a temporary break in their damaging tariff war.
Perdue said on X that it is an honor to represent President Donald Trump as ambassador.
“I am ready to get to work here and make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” he wrote.
Perdue, 75, had a long career as an executive in firms from clothing to retail. He was based in Hong Kong as head of the Asia operations for Sara Lee Corp. and later was president of the Reebok athletic brand and chairman and CEO of Dollar General stores.
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 but lost in the Republican primary.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China was ready to “provide convenience” for Perdue to perform his duties.
“We have always viewed and handled China-US relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. We hope the US side will work with China in the same direction,” Lin said at a daily news briefing.
The U.S. reached a weekend deal with China to reduce sky-high tariffs on each other’s goods, an agreement U.S. President Donald Trump has referred to as a victory.
The U.S. agreed to cut the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%. The lower tariff rates came into effect on Wednesday.
Worldwide, markets have responded to the agreement with gusto, rebounding to the levels before Trump’s tariffs, but many business owners remain wary.
Along with tariffs and China’s massive trade surplus with the U.S., the two have tangled over security in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety.
The U.S. has also been a harsh critic of China’s crackdown on human rights in ethnic areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang and in Hong Kong, and is a strong supporter of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China says is its own territory and threatens to invade.
With the 90-day tariff suspension being a notable exception, relations have hit lows not seen in decades. A reminder of that was Perdue’s predecessor Nicholas Burns’ order this year banning American government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, a throwback to the Cold War.
Perdue was confirmed by the Senate on April 29. While in the Senate, he served on the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Banking, Budget, and Agriculture committees. He also chaired the Subcommittees on Sea Power and State Department Oversight and “traveled extensively to strengthen U.S. partnerships across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe,” according to his official biography.
He was born in Warner Robins, Georgia, and grew up on his family’s farm. He and his wife have two sons and three grandsons.