Trump Asked Xi to Buy American Weapons During White House Summit, Ambassador Says

President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether he would like to buy American weapons during Xi’s three-day state visit to Washington, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Sunday.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Perdue described a moment from the summit that appeared in neither government’s official readouts: “President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world.’ He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point.” The White House did not immediately clarify whether the question was a serious offer or a negotiating jab.

What happened

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were a stated topic of the summit — a sharp point of friction with Beijing, which claims the self-governing island. Perdue confirmed the administration’s Taiwan stance is unchanged: “We don’t support independence and we don’t support coercion.” The Post also reported that China is believed to have acquired sensitive F-35 fighter jet parts sent to Hong Kong, for reasons that are not entirely clear.

The numbers

– $11 billion in Taiwan weapons sales already approved (per Perdue), with more packages under discussion
– Roughly $14 billion Taiwan package paused amid trade talks and pressure on U.S. stockpiles from the Iran and Ukraine wars
– $30 billion reciprocal tariff reduction agreed at the same summit

Why it matters

Trump is pairing pressure with a pitch. The same summit that produced the tariff reduction — plus China’s commitment to buy 10 million metric tons of U.S. coal a year — also saw Trump call Chinese support for Iran “totally unacceptable.” For defense investors, the $11 billion in approved Taiwan sales is the real number: Taiwan’s defense buildup is a concrete demand line for U.S. defense primes, whatever the theatrics around Xi. For markets broadly, the Taiwan Strait remains the highest-stakes chokepoint on earth — Taiwan dominates advanced chipmaking, and any misreading of Washington’s intent there moves semiconductor stocks fast.

What to watch

Trade envoy Jamieson Greer has teased more details Monday on the $30 billion tariff package. The AI dialogue agreed at the summit reconvenes in November, with the leaders slated to meet twice more this year — APEC in Shenzhen and the G20 in Miami. And watch whether Beijing visibly curbs support for Iran: Perdue said Friday that China has “pulled some things down” — the test is whether that becomes a trend.

Related reading: https://bullounge.com/forums/topic/us-china-30b-tariff-cut-deal-agreed-after-trump-xi-summit/ and https://bullounge.com/forums/topic/trump-xi-summit-no-ai-breakthrough-but-november-ai-talks-and-hotline-agreed/

Was Trump’s weapons offer a serious sales pitch, a negotiating tactic, or pure theater? And how much should investors weigh the Taiwan arms pipeline when pricing chip stocks?

Sources:
– https://nypost.com/2026/09/27/us-news/trump-asked-chinas-xi-jinping-if-hed-like-to-buy-american-weapons-us-ambassador-reveals/
– https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-told-xi-that-china-helping-iran-is-unacceptable-us-ambassador-says-2026-09-25/

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