Sen. David Perdue, as a Fortune 500 CEO, said Wednesday he generally does not like tariffs, but he does like that President Donald Trump is fighting for a level playing field for American workers and countries.

"President Trump has done what he had to do," the Georgia Republican and former CEO of both Reebok and Dollar General Stores, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria."

"They have entered into a dialogue. Right now we have an unlevel playing field."

China characterizes itself as the world's largest developing country, said Perdue, who has lived there in the past and is familiar with the country's culture, and Trump did what he had to do by enacting another $200 billion in tariffs against China to get the nation's attention.

China is about to to retaliate with its own tariffs, noted Bartiromo, and Perdue agreed that tariffs do pick "winners and losers."

However, the United States has "70 years of imbalance with Asian partner,s and this president is trying hard to correct that," said Perdue.

He added that he does believe the end game is not for the nations to become involved in a back-and-forth tariff battle, but to get into a "reciprocity conversation and get at it specifically, industry by industry and product by product."

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