Trump Asked Xi About Buying American Arms, US Ambassador Says

President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping whether he wanted to buy American weapons, according to the U.S. ambassador to China.

David Perdue disclosed the exchange on Fox News Sunday while discussing Xi’s state visit to Washington last week.

He provided no details about the weapons involved or Xi’s response.

“He actually asked President Xi would he like to buy some at one point,” Perdue said.

The account put the administration in the position of denying an offer described publicly by its own ambassador.

It also raised questions about Washington’s approach to arming China while withholding a substantial weapons package from Taiwan.

Washington Denies an Offer

The White House, responding through a U.S. official, said there were no plans to supply Beijing with arms.

The State Department went further: “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China, and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

Beijing’s embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Perdue’s account concerned a country widely regarded across both major U.S. parties as Washington’s foremost strategic competitor.

U.S. officials have long warned that the two nuclear powers could clash over Taiwan or maritime disputes involving American allies.

Ryan Hass, a former White House national security official who leads the Brookings Institution’s China center, warned of consequences for regional partners.

“Trump’s offer to sell weapons to China will be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China’s spear,” he wrote on social media.

Taiwan Package Remains Blocked

Perdue’s remarks followed a question about delayed weapons sales and military assistance to Taiwan.

He cited Trump’s approval of $11 billion in sales last year and said discussions about further purchases continued.

A separate $14 billion package remains stalled, despite having been prepared by State Department officials and cleared by congressional leaders earlier this year, according to The New York Times.

Lawmakers have repeatedly pressed the administration to proceed.

Four Republican senators, led by Mitch McConnell, wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hours before Xi arrived in Washington.

They also sought the release of $300 million in congressionally approved assistance for weapons purchases and $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.

Taiwan’s representative in Washington, Alexander Yui, said Sunday that recent administration statements reassured him about U.S. policy.

He nevertheless called for the delayed package to be delivered promptly.

Capacity and Negotiating Pressure

Rubio said Wednesday that the Taiwan sale was being assessed against U.S. defense manufacturing capacity and the military’s own requirements.

Those constraints leave an unresolved question about how supplying China would fit the administration’s stated priorities.

Trump has previously described withholding Taiwan arms sales as negotiating leverage with Beijing.

Perdue also said the two leaders regularly discuss such sales, despite Washington’s 1982 assurance that it had not agreed to consult China on the issue.

Further meetings could prolong the delay. Trump said he expected to see Xi in China in November and again in the United States in December.

Analysts cited in the report expect no Taiwan arms approvals before year-end, arguing that Trump will seek to avoid friction with Xi ahead of those encounters.