President Donald Trump on Monday disputed an eyebrow-raising claim from his own ambassador that he had offered to sell U.S. weapons to China
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Sunday on Fox News that Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether he would be interested in buying American weapons.
But Trump appeared surprised when a reporter confronted him with Perdue’s claim while taking questions in the Oval Office on Monday.
“To China? You mean to Taiwan?” Trump asked.
When the reporter repeated that Perdue had specifically said China, Trump replied: “I never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him.”
Trump then suggested Perdue may have been referring to Taiwan, which has long purchased U.S. weapons.
“I think he probably was talking about Taiwan,” Trump said.
But Trump also entertained the possibility of selling military weapons to China.
“They’d probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than them, so maybe it’s a good idea,” Trump said.
“But we didn’t discuss it,” he added.
