President Donald Trump offered to sell weapons to China during a recent summit with President Xi Jinping in Washington, according to Fortune, a move foreign policy experts say undercuts U.S. Warnings about China's military threat.
David Purdue, the U.S. Ambassador to China, described the offer in an interview with Fox News Sunday. "President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,'" Purdue said. "He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point." The White House says it has no current plans to sell weapons to China. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, per the report.
Experts quoted in the story call the offer unsettling for American partners and allies who rely on U.S. Weapons sales and security guarantees to counter China. If the country the Pentagon and lawmakers routinely describe as America's top military rival is also a potential arms customer, that muddies decades of policy built around treating China as a strategic threat.
For allies watching Washington's posture toward Beijing, the mixed signal matters, raising questions about how seriously that rivalry is actually treated behind closed doors, even as officials publicly warn about Chinese military buildup.
Which version reflects actual U.S. Policy remains an open question.