US Senate backs former Republican lawmaker Perdue as ambassador to China

30/4/2025 6:30

A majority of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday backed one-time U.S. Senator David Perdue to be ambassador to China, a position the former business executive

assumes amid a deep strategic rivalry and blistering trade war between the two countries.



The vote was 67 to 29 in favor of confirming President Donald Trump's nominee, who was a Republican U.S. senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021 and previously lived in Hong Kong during a 40-year career as an international business executive. Fifteen Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the

Democrats joined Trump's fellow Republicans in backing Perdue for the position.



Despite being a critic of China and its ruling Communist Party, Perdue has faced some pushback over his business track record of supporting offshoring U.S. jobs to countries with lower labor costs, a practice Trump has railed against for hollowing out the U.S. manufacturing base.



Last year, Perdue condemned Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "modern-day emperor," writing in an essay that Beijing wanted to "destroy capitalism and democracy" and the U.S.-led world order.