“We didn’t discuss it”: Trump rejects claim he offered to sell arms to Xi

US President Donald Trump on Monday denied asking Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy American weapons, contradicting his own envoy’s claim.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday that Trump made the offer during Xi’s White House state visit last week, in response to Chinese concerns over US arms sales to Taiwan.

Asked about the remarks in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “I’ve never heard of that one, I’m going to have to ask him.”

He added, “They’d probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than them, so maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it.”

A US official told Yahoo via AFP that “the US government has no plans to sell weapons to China.” The State Department said US law prohibits arms sales to China.

China’s foreign ministry did not directly answer when asked about the comments.

Trump has declined to say whether Taiwan was discussed. The two leaders will meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 in Miami in December.