Trump Asked Xi Whether China Wanted to Buy US Weapons, Ambassador Says

Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

Taiwanese soldiers use a variant of the US-made Abrams tanks during drills in July 2025.

US President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether China was interested in buying weapons from the United States, according to the US ambassador to China.

David Perdue, US ambassador to China, said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the US to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of US policy toward China and Taiwan and expose US technology to a potential foe.

Speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, Perdue didn’t specify when the offer was made.

But the US State Department on Monday looked to distance the Trump administration from Perdue’s comments, saying that “US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

Perdue said Sunday that the president was downplaying longstanding US arms sales to Taiwan — which have drawn protest from Beijing for years — by couching it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world, and even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for US weaponry.

He also stated that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue added that Trump and Xi continue to talk about future US weapons sales to Taiwan.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue’s remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.

Source: AP



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