The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on May 22 to confirm former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Beijing.
Branstad, 70, spent more than 22 years as Iowa’s governor—the longest tenure of a state governor in U.S. history.
Branstad has also long been acquainted with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, having hosted Xi in Iowa when he was still a young agricultural official from northern China in 1985. They kept in contact over the years, and Xi has called Branstad an “old friend.”
