Trump taps former Sen. David Perdue as next ambassador to China

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he is choosing former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China.

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

Perdue pushed Trump’s debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for Georgia governor. Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a primary against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

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 cautioned earlier this week that there will be losers on all sides if there is a trade war.

“China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu posted on X. “No one will win a trade war or a #tariff war.” He added that China had taken steps in the last year to help stem drug trafficking.

It is unclear whether Trump will actually 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.

Trump also filled out more of his immigration team Thursday, as he promises mass deportations and border crackdowns.

He said he’s nominating former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott to head U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Scott, a career official, was appointed head of the border agency in January 2020 and enthusiastically embraced then-President Trump’s policies, particularly on building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. He was forced out by the Biden administration.

Trump also said he’d nominate Caleb Vitello as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that, among other things, arrests migrants in the U.S. illegally. Vitello is a career ICE official with more than 23 years in the agency and most recently has been the assistant director for the office of firearms and tactical programs.

The president-elect named the head of the Border Patrol Union, Brandon Judd, as ambassador to Chile. Judd has been a longtime supporter of Trump’s, appearing with him during his visits to the U.S.-Mexico border, though he notably supported a Senate immigration bill championed by President Biden that Trump sank in part because he didn’t want to give Democrats an election-year win on the issue.