Donald Trump’s Surprising Offer to Xi Jinping Revealed by U.S. Ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue confirmed that President Donald Trump casually asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy American weapons during recent high-level discussions.

Perdue revealed on Fox News Sunday that Trump floated the idea while discussing the wide reach of U.S. military exports and defending pending arms shipments to Taiwan.

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

After the ambassador's remarks, a State Department official told the media that U.S. law strictly prohibits selling weapons to China and that no formal offer or plan exists.

The surprising disclosure emerged as Ambassador Perdue answered questions on Fox News about delayed U.S. aid and weapons packages for Taiwan, a core flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

Perdue explained that Trump often remarks that the U.S. sells military equipment globally, noting that the president once asked Xi whether Beijing would like to buy some.

The comment coincided with ongoing administration debates over withholding or delaying a $14 billion defense package for Taiwan, an informal ally the U.S. is legally required to help defend.

According to reports from the South China Morning Post, the State Department quickly distanced itself from the remark, reiterating that long-standing federal legislation bans arms transfers to China.

The United States has maintained a strict arms embargo against China for decades, with restrictions significantly tightened after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Selling advanced military hardware to Beijing would fundamentally reverse generations of U.S. defense policy in the Indo-Pacific region and risk exposing sensitive technology.

“An admission that the American president offered to sell arms to China is 'extraordinary,' noting that the Communist-ruled nation is considered by lawmakers of both parties to be 'the greatest military, economic and diplomatic rival of the United States — the only real challenger to America as a superpower,'" noted The New York Times.

If consummated, a deal like this "would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose U.S. technology to a potential foe,” wrote The Associated Press Defense and Diplomatic Report.

While Trump hasn’t mentioned his offer since the initial comments, Perdue noted on CNBC that U.S. policy toward Taiwan and arms provisions under the Taiwan Relations Act remain unchanged, framing Trump's comment within his overall transactional rhetoric on global defense exports.