- The US ambassador to China reported that President Trump asked Xi Jinping whether he would be interested in buying American weapons.
- The State Department emphasized that US law forbids arms sales to China.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump inquired whether Chinese President Xi Jinping wanted to purchase weapons from the United States, according to the US ambassador to China, David Perdue. Perdue told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that Trump raised the possibility of selling arms to its geopolitical rival, an unprecedented move that could overturn decades of policy and expose sensitive US technology to a potential adversary. The offer was made sometime after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, though Perdue did not specify when.
The State Department distanced itself from Perdue’s comments, stating that “US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.” Perdue countered that Trump was not diminishing the longstanding US arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing opposes, but rather framing them as part of normal global weapons deals. He added that Trump asked Xi directly if he would be in the market for US weaponry.
Bream cited bipartisan concerns over delayed aid and weapons deliveries to Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy facing Chinese threats of invasion. She asked whether the US was withholding arms to appease Xi. Perdue insisted Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and that the two leaders continue to discuss future US arms sales to the island.
Analyst Evan Sankey of the Cato Institute said the proposal reflects Trump’s treatment of China in purely commercial terms, potentially at the expense of US military posture in Asia. The last US arms sale to Beijing occurred in the 1980s, and resuming it would be a dramatic policy shift. While the US is legally obligated to provide Taiwan with defensive capabilities, it has never explicitly committed to military intervention in case of a Chinese invasion.
China has repeatedly pressured Washington to halt arms sales to Taiwan, notably during a May summit in Beijing where the US paused a $14 billion package and Trump called the sales a “negotiating chip.” In recent White House talks, Xi urged Trump to oppose Taiwanese independence, according to Chinese state media. Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun declined to confirm Perdue’s remarks but reiterated China’s commitment to strengthening its defenses and maintaining global peace.