China welcomes Trump’s choice for USA ambassador

China reacted Wednesday morning to a report that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will be the next ambassador to China, calling Branstad an “old friend”. “He obviously has relations with Chinese officials which are important”.

Before that conversation last Friday, neither a president nor president-elect had any known contact with a Taiwanese leader since 1979, when the US broke off diplomatic relations and recognized only one China between the mainland and Taiwan.

Trump has had a contentious relationship with China since his emergence in national American politics, blaming China for stealing United States jobs and has threatened high trade tariffs against the country. He has threatened to slap tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing didn’t “behave”.

Afterward, Branstad, 70, declined to comment about whether he had been offered a job, telling reporters only that he is excited about a Trump presidency and the “quality of the people that he’s attracting to the cabinet”.

China’s foreign ministry did not confirm the report, but reacted warmly. S. relations, “spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news conference”.

If named as the USA envoy, Branstad would find his years of warm discussions about selling Iowa corn and soybeans to China shift quickly to more complicated matters as Trump and his Chinese counterparts play their hands. No matter who is in this position, we are willing to work with him to push forward the sound, steady and steady development of Sino-U.

Governor Terry Branstad speaks to a crowd of more than two thousand during a Donald Trump event, July 28 in Cedar Rapids.

Branstad’s oldest son, Eric, served as state director for Trump’s campaign.

Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999 in IN, had been critical of Trump’s declaration that he saved more than 1,000 jobs from leaving a Carrier plant in Indianapolis.

Former Iowa legislator David Readinger, who served with Branstad, spoke about him at a book-signing event in Forest City earlier this year.

Trump, the Republican nominee, won the popular vote in Iowa in the November 8 election by a margin of 10 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Iowa governor is also a GOP kingmaker as the highest-elected Republican in the crucial first primary state, but he didn’t endorse Trump until May, after the GOP field had cleared.

Reynolds has been Iowa’s lieutenant governor since 2011.

Since then, the USA has been sending significant quantities of agricultural exports to China.

At his weekly news conference, Branstad would not say if he will accept the job.

In an interview with Time, published to mark his accolade as the magazine’s “Person of 2016”, Trump said he also asked Apple to build a plant in the United States.

“Anyone who was thinking about running in 2018 who isn’t named Kim Reynolds is going to have to reassess based on what happened today”, he said. “He’s tenacious and, trust me, with the Chinese you’ve got to be tenacious”.

The impending appointment was widely reported in the United States media but not confirmed by Trump’s transition office, apparently because Kelly is out of the country. As with so much else, it’s too soon to tell. Meetings with Trump transition officials are likely to be added to his schedule, according to advisers to both Trump and Branstad. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been to Iowa several times, including in 2012 when he was honored with a State Dinner. On a visit to Iowa as part of a sister state/province program, Xi stayed with a Muscatine family and met Branstad at his formal Statehouse office as part of a visiting delegation. Speculation has loomed that the nation’s longest-serving governor would be offered an ambassadorship.

President-elect Donald Trump, who announced his choice of Branstad on Wednesday, said during the campaign that his administration would make closing the USA trade deficit with China a top priority.