Senate Confirms Purdue as US Envoy to China

The former senator has ‘heavy work cut out’ for him, says the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chairman.

David Perdue, then nominee to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, on April 3, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—The Senate majority has approved former Georgia Sen. David Perdue as U.S. ambassador to China amid deepening bilateral trade tensions.

The final 67–29 tally on April 29 confirmed the Trump nominee, a former Fortune 500 CEO and China critic who had lived in Hong Kong during his 40-year business career.

Just before the vote, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) rallied support for Perdue.

“This is certainly one of the most important nominations and appointments that will come across this floor,” he said in a speech, commending President Donald Trump for his pick.

Risch said Perdue has “heavy work cut out” for him in executing Trump’s China policy vision, adding that the country’s ruling regime has done “everything it can to infiltrate the United States.”

“They’ve stolen every good idea that we have and used it to their own devices, which has brought them to the challenging position they are for the United States,” he said.

They are “communists, they are socialists, they are not free market or capitalist motivated, and they have no regard for human rights,” he said.

China is currently facing as high as 145 percent import duties on its products, forcing major Chinese e-commerce sites such as Temu to add hefty import charges that have spooked away some Western consumers. Beijing, while struggling with an economic crisis, has repeatedly denied engaging in trade talks with Washington despite the Trump administration saying otherwise, an approach some analysts interpret as a desire to save face.

Perdue, in the confirmation hearing in early April, already expressed belief that American buyers hold the power to deal the Chinese economy a fatal blow.

The days of turning a blind eye to Beijing’s unfair trade practices are over, he said.

“The way forward is for the United States to become informed about that and to stand up to the channels,” he said.