The United States ambassador to China said on Sunday that President Donald Trump had once asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether he wanted to buy American-made weapons — a remark that U.S. officials rushed to walk back within hours, stressing that no such sale is planned and that federal law forbids it. Ambassador David Perdue disclosed the episode during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, where interviewer Shannon Bream pressed him on concerns from lawmakers of both parties that weapons deliveries to Taiwan have been delayed. Perdue pushed back on the idea that Taiwan was being shortchanged to please Xi, saying Trump had sold Taipei plenty of weapons and that future sales were still being discussed. Then came the surprise. Perdue said Trump habitually points out that the United States sells weapons to countries all around the world — and, at one point, put the question to the Chinese leader directly: would he like to buy some? The ambassador did not say when Trump made the remark or whether it came up during last week's meetings in Washington. Perdue was quick to add that Washington's stance on Taiwan remains unchanged, telling Bream the administration neither supports Taiwan independence nor supports coercion against the island. Taiwan has long been the most combustible issue in the U.S.-China relationship. Beijing claims the self-governing island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force. American law requires Washington to provide Taiwan with arms for its self-defense, and those sales have angered Beijing for decades. The December 2025 package is the benchmark. Washington approved more than $11 billion in arms for Taiwan that month, a sale Perdue described as larger than any U.S. president's since 1979. According to the Wall Street Journal, that announcement covered howitzers, missile launchers and antitank drones. Separately, the administration has held back roughly $14 billion in security funding for Taiwan while trade negotiations with Beijing were in progress and American munitions stockpiles were strained by the wars in Iran and Ukraine. Four Republican senators sent the administration a letter ahead of Xi's visit urging it to move that funding forward, the Journal reported. The pushback from Washington came fast. White House officials told the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that the administration has no plans to sell weapons to China. The State Department went further in a statement to the Times, saying American law prohibits arms sales to China and that no offer or plan to sell arms to Beijing exists. The White House did not immediately answer a request for comment from the AFP news agency. Beijing, for its part, stayed measured. China's foreign ministry on Monday declined to address Perdue's account directly, saying only that China strengthens its national defense according to its own needs and remains committed to safeguarding world peace and stability. During his Washington visit last week, Xi had already warned Trump to show prudence on Taiwan, and urged the United States to state explicitly that it opposes Taiwan independence. And in May, Trump himself suggested that a future weapons package for Taipei could serve as a negotiating chip with China — a comment that raised fears among Taiwan's supporters that the island's security could be traded away at the table. Whether Trump's question to Xi was a joke, a taunt or a genuine probe remains unclear, and U.S. officials are treating it as none of the above. What is certain is that the episode touches two of Washington's longest-standing positions at once: its arms relationship with Taipei, and its prohibition on weapons sales to Beijing. Neither side is signaling any change — but the remark will keep the Taiwan question at the center of the U.S.-China story for days to come.