Trump Xi
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue, left, and his wife Bonnie Perdue walk to the White House to attend a state dinner hosted for China's President Xi Jinping, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington.
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President Donald Trump has disputed that he asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States. That contradicts an account from the U.S. ambassador to China. Trump on Monday acted confused when a reporter asked him about Ambassador David Perdue’s remarks over the weekend. Trump suggested that his ambassador was confusing China with Taiwan but then said “maybe it’s a good idea” to make such an offer to China. The whiplash over the prospect of arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival underlines the Trump administration’s uncoordinated and contradictory approach to China.
