Trump asked China’s president if he wanted to buy US arms, ambassador says
President Donald Trump has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, the US ambassador to China said. David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the US to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of US […]
US President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy American weapons, according to US Ambassador to China David Perdue. Perdue said Trump made the offer during Xi's state visit to the White House, in response to Chinese concerns over US weapons sales to Taiwan.
However, Trump has since denied the claim, telling reporters he had not discussed the matter with Xi. Trump did say that China might be interested in buying US equipment because "we do make better equipment than them".
The offer, if made, would be an unusual one, given the long-standing geopolitical rivalry between the US and China. Perdue also stated that there are ongoing conversations about potential arms sales, and that Trump and Xi discuss the topic whenever they meet.
Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, CBC News, Free Malaysia Today — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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