Trump Picks His Ambassador to China

President-elect Trump has chosen former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China. Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday that Perdue, a former CEO of firms including Dollar General, "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 a primary against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. He pushed Trump's debunked claims about electoral fraud during his failed bid for governor, the AP reports.

• Economic tensions. Economic tensions will be a big part of the US-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.

• China warns of dangers of trade war. 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.
• More nominations. Trump 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 US 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 US-Mexico border wall. He was forced out by the Biden administration.
• New ICE chief. 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 US 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.

(More David Perdue stories.)