What happened in this Geopolitics story?

US Ambassador David Perdue disclosed President Trump asked Xi Jinping during last week's Washington summit whether China wanted to buy American weapons—a claim the White House and State Department quickly denied.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**David Perdue**, US ambassador to China, told Fox News that Trump asked Xi Jinping during last week's summit "would he like to buy some" US arms, noting Trump "continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the world."

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**The White House** told the New York Times there are "no plans to sell arms to China," while the State Department said US law prohibits such sales and there is "no offer or plan to sell arms to China."

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Trump offered Xi US weapons at summit: ambassador — SkimNews

By The Guardian World · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-28

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David Perdue, US ambassador to China, told Fox News that Trump asked Xi Jinping during last week's summit "would he like to buy some" US arms, noting Trump "continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the world."
The White House told the New York Times there are "no plans to sell arms to China," while the State Department said US law prohibits such sales and there is "no offer or plan to sell arms to China."
Taiwan has waited months for Trump to approve a $14bn (£10.5bn) arms sales package; at a May Beijing meeting, Trump said he was keeping the deal "in abeyance" as a "very good negotiating chip" in dealings with China.
Xi Jinping urged Trump to oppose "Taiwan independence" during the Washington summit, per a Xinhua readout; Beijing "resolutely opposes" US arms sales to the island and has not renounced force to take it.
China is a net weapons exporter whose arms imports fell 72% between 2021 and 2025 versus the prior five years, per SIPRI data, with most remaining imports coming from Russia in rapidly declining volumes.
Taiwanese officials publicly pushed back on a White House summit fact sheet asserting China and the US "fought side by side to win" in WWII, calling it a false Beijing claim; Taiwan has sought to highlight its own democratic-allies history.
Trump has not publicly addressed the arms-sale offer since the summit, telling reporters only that Xi "understands my position on Taiwan," while Perdue told CNBC there has been no change in Taiwan policy including on arms sales.

Why it matters: Taiwan has waited months for a $14bn arms package Trump has previously called a "negotiating chip," so a reported offer to arm Beijing itself—denied within hours by the White House—deepens doubts about US commitment to Taipei at the same moment China continues investing heavily in military capacity despite a declining economy.