Trump names former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China

WASHINGTON —  President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be the U.S. ambassador to China, leaning on a former business executive turned politician to serve as the administration’s envoy to one of America’s most potent economic and military adversaries.

Trump said in a social media post that Perdue “brings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China.”

Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in Republicans’ 2022 primary against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Perdue pushed Trump’s debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed gubernatorial bid.

During his time in the Senate, the former Georgia lawmaker advocated for a more robust naval force to cope with threats, including from China.

Before launching his political career, Perdue held a string of top executive positions, including at Sara Lee, Reebok and Dollar General.

Economic tensions will be a big part of the U.S.-China picture for the new administration.

Trump has threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office, as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.

He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has cautioned that there will be losers on all sides if there is a trade war.

It is unclear whether Trump will go through with the threats or if he is using them as a negotiating tactic.

The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. census data.

Perdue, if confirmed by the Senate, will also have to negotiate difficult issues that go beyond trade. Washington and Beijing have long had deep differences on the support China has given to Russia during its war in Ukraine, and on human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with outgoing President Biden last month that Beijing stood “ready to work with a new U.S. administration.”

Xi also warned that a stable China-U.S. relationship was crucial not only to the two nations but to the “future and destiny of humanity.”

Trump’s relationship with Xi started out well during his first term, but grew strained over disputes about trade and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump seems particularly focused on using tariffs as a pressure point with Xi, even threatening he would use them to pressure Beijing to crack down on the production of materials used in making fentanyl in Mexico that is illegally sold in the United States.

Trump’s second administration is expected to test U.S.-China relations even more than his first, when the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese products.

That brought Beijing to the negotiating table, and in 2020 the two sides signed a trade deal in which China committed to improving intellectual property rights and buying an additional $200 billion in American goods.

A couple of years later, a research group showed that China had bought essentially none of the goods it had promised.

Before Trump’s return to power, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, had been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year.

Long and Madhani write for the Associated Press. AP writer Didi Tang contributed to this report.