• US President-elect Donald Trump named David Perdue as the US ambassador to China.
• Perdue, a former senator and business executive, has extensive experience in Asia.
• Trump's nomination comes amid trade tensions with China. He has threatened elevated tariffs on Chinese goods.

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Sen. David Perdue as the US ambassador to China.

A business executive before he entered politics, Perdue has lived in Singapore and Hong Kong.

"He will be instrumental in implementing my strategy to maintain Peace in the region, and a productive working relationship with China's leaders," Trump wrote on Truth Social. highlighting Perdue's. experience with Asia and China and calling him a "loyal supporter and friend."

Perdue said he's "truly honored" to accept Trump's nomination.

"Having lived in Asia on two occasions, I understand the gravity of this responsibility and look forward to implementing President Trump's strategy to make the world safe again and to represent the United States' interests in China," Perdue wrote on X.

Trump's nomination of Perdue as ambassador to China comes at a time of tension between the world's two largest economies.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, has threatened 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US on his campaign trail. Last month, Trump said he intended to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods due to China's role in the fentanyl trade.

Business and golf with Trump

Perdue served as a senator for Georgia from 2015 to 2021, during which time he was the only ex-Fortune 500 CEO serving in the Senate.

Like Trump, the Georgia native entered politics following decades in the business world. Perdue is also a keen golfer, which helped him bond with Trump.

Perdue said Trump often called him — at any hour — to strategize or brainstorm policy ideas.

"As a business guy, we have a point in commonality," Perdue told Business Insider in 2018. "Number one, all we want is results. He's not an ideologue. He has not been up here in the Washington bubble for all these years, fighting these partisan wars. He just wants to get results. I just want to get results."

Perdue lost the Senate runoff election to Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, in January 2021.

Even though Trump picked Perdue citing his experience with Asia, this same experience had also been under scrutiny in the past as it involved outsourcing.

"Yeah, I spent most of my career doing that," said Perdue, referring to his experience with outsourcing, in a July 2005 deposition during a company lawsuit, per Politico in a 2014 report.

During his tenure as senator, the Justice Department investigated him for insider trading, but no charges were filed.

Extensive business and retail experience

Perdue attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1972.

He also has a master's degree in operations research from the same university.

Perdue started his career at Kurt Salmon Associates, a consulting firm.

After that, he held several positions before his foray in Asia.

From 1991 to 1992, Perdue worked for the international apparel company Gitano in Singapore, and then for Sara Lee in Hong Kong.

Following these stints, Perdue held a number of high-level positions, including at Dallas-based Haggar Clothing, where he joined as a senior vice president of operations, and Reebok, where he joined as an SVP for its shoe business. He was Rebook's CEO by 2001.

In 2003, Perdue joined Dollar General, where he became CEO. Perdue was the first person outside the Turner family to run the discount chain.

Perdue grew Dollar General, adding over 2,000 stores to the chain. In 2007, the private equity firm KKR acquired it.

In 2014, Perdue launched his bid for Georgia's open Senate seat.

After losing in the Senate runoff election in 2021, Perdue set his sights on Georgia's governor race.

In 2022, Perdue lost the GOP's gubernatorial primary to Brian Kemp.

• Chinese Xi Jinping was unusually candid with US President Biden in their last meeting as their countries' leaders.
• Xi outlined China's "red lines" for the US, including the country's rights to development.
• Beijing was setting ground rules for the incoming Trump administration and its China hawks.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is gearing up for Trump 2.0 with some ground rules for the administration's China hawks.

Last weekend, Xi met US President Joe Biden at the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru. He told Washington not to cross "four red lines" — which analysts say is a clear message for the incoming Trump administration.

The four hot-button issues are Taiwan, democracy and human rights, China's path and system, and the country's rights to development.

"These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations," Xi said, according to a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry.

Xi's explicit message is notable because it appears to be the first time these "red lines" were issued at the presidential level, said Igor Khrestin, a managing director of global policy at the George W. Bush Institute, a think tank.

"This is an attempt to 'set the floor' for US-China relations, in light of the uncertainly surrounding the second Trump Administration," Khrestin told Business Insider.

To be sure, it's not the first time Beijing has mentioned "red lines" in diplomatic settings and the four no-go zones are consistent with China's position on the issues. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned about not crossing Beijing's "red lines" in the past.

The remarks show Beijing is paying close attention to the nomination of China hawks in Trump's administration, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — who has been sanctioned by Beijing — to the position of Secretary of State.

Xi's language raised some eyebrows, with analysts calling it "harsh" and deeming China's foreign ministry readout "strikingly negative" in some sections.

As Jersey Lee, an international affairs analyst, wrote on the think tank Lowy Institute's website on Tuesday, Xi's sentence that the US "always says one thing but does another, it will be detrimental to its own image, and undermine trust between China and the United States," is "surprisingly frank."

Xi named Taiwan President William Lai

Of the four "red lines," Taiwan is the most sensitive issue between the two countries, as Xi has repeatedly said over the years.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has said recently that it will never commit to renouncing the use of force over the island. The area is strategically important to the US as a leader in semiconductor production and as a key security hub.

The sensitivity over Taiwan is even more apparent because last weekend was also the first time that Xi reportedly called Taiwanese president William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party — whom Beijing branded as a separatist — by name. Chinese leaders rarely mention Taiwanese leaders by name in public.

"If the US side cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai Ching-te and the DPP authorities in seeking 'Taiwan independence,' handles the Taiwan question with extra prudence, unequivocally opposes 'Taiwan independence,' and supports China's peaceful reunification," according to Chinese ministry readout.

However, the White House's readout of the same meeting did not mention Lai. That prompted Tsai Ming-yen, the director of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, to question if China's state media and its foreign ministry were using cognitive warfare tactics.

Rockier times ahead of US and China

In 2018, Trump said he had an "incredible relationship" with Xi. But things could change dramatically with the President-elect calling for 60% tariffs.

Beijing seems to prefer a more conciliatory approach with Trump's new team in the short term to avoid dramatic developments, Khrestin said.

"Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Xi Jinping has consolidated in his view that the United States and its allies have become intractable impediments to China's rightful rise as the dominant global power," Khrestin said.

Trump 2.0 doesn't change that long-term calculus, and the US-China relationship is likely to worsen in the long run because Beijing is inflexible in its "red lines," he added.