Ambassador Perdue Says Trump Asked Xi if He Would Buy U.S. Arms; State Department Says No Offer or Plan, and Trump Says He Did Not Discuss It

Trump administration officials said on Monday that the United States has no plans to sell weapons to China after U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue indicated during a televised interview that President Donald Trump offered a weapons deal to China’s Xi Jinping during a high-profile summit last week. Perdue said Sunday on Fox News: “President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” He added: “He actually asked President Xi would he like to buy some at one point.” Perdue did not provide further details about the offer, and he did not reveal Xi’s response. The State Department said: “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.” Asked in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he “didn’t discuss it” with Xi, suggesting he meant Taiwan instead of China, and added: “I think he probably was talking about Taiwan.”