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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-weapons-sale-china.html?emc=edit_nn_20260928&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227179",
    "parsed_content": "Trump-Xi SummitSimmering DivisionsArtificial IntelligenceTrade Truce ExtendedState DinnerChina\u2019s Domestic PrioritiesAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTTrump Offered to Sell Arms to China, U.S. Ambassador SaysPresident Trump made the offer to Xi Jinping, China\u2019s leader, said David Perdue, the ambassador to China. The White House later said the U.S. had no plans for such a sale.Listen \u00b7 7:35 min Share full articlePresident Xi Jinping of China arriving for a state visit last week. China has the world\u2019s fastest-growing military.Credit...Kenny Holston\/The New York TimesBy Edward WongEdward Wong covers U.S.-China relations as a diplomatic correspondent in Washington and wrote a book on China after serving as Beijing bureau chief.Sept. 27, 2026\u9605\u8bfb\u7b80\u4f53\u4e2d\u6587\u7248\u95b1\u8b80\u7e41\u9ad4\u4e2d\u6587\u7248See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google President Trump has asked Xi Jinping, the leader of China, whether he would like to buy American weapons, David Perdue, the American ambassador to China, said in a television interview on Sunday.\u201cPresident Trump continues to say, \u2018Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,\u2019\u201d Mr. Perdue said on \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d while discussing the state visit by Mr. Xi to Washington last week. \u201cHe actually asked President Xi would he like to buy some at one point.\u201dMr. Perdue did not give further details and did not reveal Mr. Xi\u2019s reply.An admission that the American president offered to sell arms to China is extraordinary. The Communist-ruled nation is considered by most American policymakers and legislators of both parties to be the greatest military, economic and diplomatic rival of the United States \u2014 the only real challenger to America as a superpower.When asked for comment, the White House said through a U.S. official that the United States had no plans to sell arms to China. The State Department said in a statement that \u201cU.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.China has the world\u2019s fastest-growing military, and for decades U.S. officials across administrations, including in the current one, have warned of a potential military clash between the two nuclear-armed powers in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly over the island of Taiwan or China\u2019s aggressive actions in territory claimed by U.S. allies in the South and East China Seas.Chinese defense companies, with the approval of the Chinese government, are supporting adversaries of the United States, including Iran and Russia, by selling them dual-use equipment and satellite imagery, as well as planning the secret export of weapons, according to U.S. officials. The United States has imposed sanctions on some Chinese companies.The United States has been the dominant military power in the Asia-Pacific region, but that strength is fading relative to China\u2019s, especially as the Trump administration diverts resources from the region for use in its war against Iran. In recent years, the U.S. defense industry has also struggled to manufacture weapons systems at a rate considered sufficient for global needs by American officials.\u201cIf there was any ambiguity about whether President Trump views China as a security threat, this disclosure by @USAmbChina Perdue puts the question to rest,\u201d Ryan Hass, a former career diplomat and White House national security official who is director of the China center at the Brookings Institution, wrote on social media.\u201cTrump\u2019s offer to sell weapons to China will be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China\u2019s spear,\u201d he added.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThose partners include the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan, the de facto independent island and democracy that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to rule.Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. It's a pivotal moment for American politics. Join us for 2026 and beyond. Get it sent to your inbox.Mr. Trump has been withholding a $14 billion sale of weapons to Taiwan, even though the U.S. government has been required by law since 1979 to send arms of a defensive nature to the island. The latest arms package was put together by State Department officials and was approved by congressional leaders early this year, but has since languished at the department, The New York Times reported.Senators sent a bipartisan letter in May to Mr. Trump urging him to move forward with the sales. On Wednesday, hours before Mr. Xi arrived in Washington, four Republican senators led by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking for the same thing.They also pressed the two men to allocate $300 million in aid for purchasing arms that Congress had already approved for Taiwan, as well as $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, a U.S. defense program.ImageJamieson Greer, left, the U.S. trade representative, with David Perdue, the American ambassador to China, at the White House last week.Credit...Haiyun Jiang\/The New York TimesWhen a Fox News interviewer asked Mr. Perdue on Sunday about the widespread concerns over withheld weapons sales and military aid to Taiwan, Mr. Perdue pointed out that Mr. Trump had approved $11 billion of arms sales to Taiwan last year. And he said \u201cthere are continuing conversations about other sales. He and President Xi talk about that every time they get together.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIt was then that Mr. Perdue said Mr. Trump had argued that the United States sells arms to \u201cother people around the world,\u201d and offered such sales to Mr. Xi.China has said Mr. Xi has told Mr. Trump that he opposes the United States selling weapons to Taiwan. In May, after leaving a Beijing summit with Mr. Xi, Mr. Trump told reporters he had discussed Taiwan arms sales with Mr. Xi \u201cin great detail.\u201d Such conversations \u2014 the existence of which Mr. Perdue underscored in his remarks on Sunday \u2014 are a violation of a 1982 document in which the United States agreed to broaden its support of Taiwan; one of the assurances said Washington \u201chas not agreed to consult with\u201d China on arms sales to Taiwan.When asked in May about that commitment, Mr. Trump replied: \u201cWell, I think the 1980s is a long way. That\u2019s a big, far distance.\u201dIn a Fox News interview recorded in May while he was in Beijing, Mr. Trump said he was holding back Taiwan arms sales because it was a \u201cvery good negotiating chip\u201d with China.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAfter the summit last week. Mr. Trump said he and Mr. Xi did not talk much about Taiwan. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s fine,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just moving along.\u201dOn Sunday, Taiwan\u2019s de facto ambassador to the United States, Alexander Yui, said on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d that he felt confident, based on public remarks last week by administration officials, that \u201cthere\u2019s no change in Taiwan\u2019s position for the United States.\u201d He added, though, that he hoped Taiwan could get the $14 billion withheld arms package \u201cas soon as possible.\u201dOn Wednesday, Mr. Rubio was asked by reporters in New York about the withholding of the Taiwan arms package. He said the sale was being reviewed in light of the need for \u201cbalancing our industrial capacity and our military-industrial base\u201d and determining whether the United States needed the arms for itself. It is unclear how Mr. Trump\u2019s offer to sell arms to China is consistent with that reasoning.Mr. Trump said last week that he would meet with Mr. Xi again in China in November during a regional leadership summit, and that the Chinese leader would return to the United States in December, also for a multilateral summit. Analysts say it is unlikely that Mr. Trump will approve any sales of arms to Taiwan before the end of the year, for fear of upsetting Mr. Xi before those planned meetings.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-27T22:52:12+00:00",
    "author_name": "Edward Wong",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
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    "ai_headline": "Trump Offered to Sell Arms to China, U.S. Ambassador Says",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Trump Offers Arms to China, Ambassador Reveals",
    "ai_excerpt": "President Trump reportedly offered to sell American weapons to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to U.S. Ambassador David Perdue. This revelation has sparked controversy, given the long-standing U.S. policy prohibiting arms sales to China and the country's status as a military rival.",
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