President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether China wanted to buy American weapons, US Ambassador to China David Perdue revealed on Sunday — a striking admission that came as the administration defends the pending Taiwan arms sale amid lawmaker concerns about delayed deliveries. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, said Trump had raised the offer directly with his Chinese counterpart, the Associated Press reported.
“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.” The ambassador did not specify when Trump made the offer, and the White House has not yet clarified whether the president was serious or, as the New York Post put it, simply trolling his Chinese counterpart.
Trump Xi Arms Offer Lands Amid Taiwan Arms Sale Debate
The Trump Xi exchange on weapons came in the context of a heated debate over the pending US arms sale to Taiwan. Bream had pressed Perdue on concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan — the self-governing island Beijing claims as its territory — asking whether the US was denying Taiwan arms to appease Xi, who visited Trump last week.
Perdue pushed back hard. “Trump is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody,” the ambassador said, adding that Trump has sold Taiwan plenty of weapons and that the two leaders continue to discuss future US weapons sales to Taiwan. “President Trump’s already approved $11 billion,” Perdue said of the current pipeline. “There are continuing conversations about other sales. He and President Xi talk about that every time they get together.”
The administration had paused a roughly $14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan amid trade negotiations and pressure on US stockpiles caused by the wars in Iran and Ukraine, according to the New York Post. Perdue framed the Taiwan sale as one of many routine US arms sales worldwide — the argument Trump apparently extended, however playfully, directly to Xi.
Why the Trump Xi Weapons Remark Matters
On its face, the idea of the United States selling weapons to China is extraordinary. As the AP noted, an actual sale would upend generations of US policy toward China and Taiwan and could expose sensitive American military technology to a potential adversary. Beijing has long demanded that countries doing business with it adhere to a “one China” principle in which Taiwan and the mainland are part of the same country, and the US maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity over whether it would intervene militarily if China attempted to take Taiwan by force.
The US is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While Washington does not recognize Taiwan as a country, it remains the island’s strongest informal backer and arms provider. Multiple American leaders have left deliberately ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend Taiwan should China invade.
The revelation also lands at a delicate moment. The New York Post reported that China is believed to have acquired sensitive F-35 fighter jet parts that had been sent to Hong Kong, for reasons that remain unclear — an unconfirmed claim that, if true, would heighten concerns about American technology reaching Beijing. Against that backdrop, even a rhetorical offer to sell US weapons to China carries diplomatic weight.
Taiwan Arms Sale: What Perdue Said About Delays
Perdue’s core mission on Sunday was reassurance: no, the administration is not slow-walking arms to Taiwan to keep Xi happy. The ambassador insisted US support for Taiwan “has not changed,” adding: “We don’t support independence and we don’t support coercion.”
The delay question matters because it has bipartisan salience in Congress. Lawmakers from both parties have raised alarms about a growing backlog of approved-but-undelivered weapons for Taiwan, arguing that the island’s defenses are eroding as China accelerates its military buildup. The administration’s counter is that stockpile pressure from the Iran and Ukraine conflicts has strained production lines — and that the pause was about logistics and trade talks, not appeasement.
Perdue also confirmed that Trump and Xi discussed America’s arms sales to Taiwan directly during the three-day summit. In their private White House talks last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media — a reminder that the issue remains the single most combustible item on the bilateral agenda.
A Weekend of Trump Foreign Policy Headlines
The ambassador’s remarks capped a busy weekend for Trump’s foreign policy footprint. As our report on the RAF Fairford arrests notes, the president also weighed in Sunday on the five men detained near the US airbase in Britain, saying they had sought to do “big damage” — a separate story unfolding against the same backdrop of US–Iran tensions that are straining American weapons stockpiles.
The through-line is a presidency conducting multiple high-stakes security dramas in public: a joint counter-terrorism case in the UK, a rejected Hormuz proposal from Tehran, oil at $106 a barrel, and now a revealed weapons-sales exchange with Beijing. For an administration that prizes transactional diplomacy, the Trump Xi arms-sale episode may be the most characteristically Trumpian of them all — whether it was a joke, a negotiating feint, or something in between.
Trump Xi China Buy US Weapons: FAQs
Q: Did Trump really ask Xi if China wanted to buy US weapons?
A: According to US Ambassador to China David Perdue, speaking on Fox News Sunday, Trump did raise the prospect with Xi — though Perdue did not say when, and the White House has not clarified whether the president was serious, the AP reported.
Q: Why was Perdue talking about the Taiwan arms sale?
A: Host Shannon Bream cited bipartisan lawmaker concerns about delayed weapons deliveries to Taiwan and asked whether the US was holding back to appease Xi. Perdue denied it, saying Trump is “as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has approved $11 billion in sales.
Q: Was a Taiwan arms sale paused?
A: The administration paused a roughly $14 billion sale amid trade negotiations and pressure on US stockpiles from the Iran and Ukraine conflicts, according to the New York Post. Perdue said conversations about further sales continue.
Q: Would the US actually sell weapons to China?
A: That remains highly unlikely. As the AP noted, such a sale would upend generations of US policy and risk exposing American military technology to a potential adversary. No such sale has been announced or proposed.
