Trump says idea of selling US weapons to China "good"

President Donald Trump said it could be a “good idea” for China to buy U.S. weapons, while denying that he discussed arms sales with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting last week.

Trump made the remarks after U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that Trump had asked Xi whether Beijing wanted to buy U.S. weapons, Fox 13 reports.

The State Department said in a September 28 statement that U.S. law bars Washington from selling weapons to China.

Asked by reporters about Perdue’s comments, Trump suggested that the ambassador may have confused China with Taiwan.

“I never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him,” Trump said.

Trump added that U.S. weaponry was better than what China had, saying, “So maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it. He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he was probably talking about Taiwan.”

Earlier, Perdue had said Trump was downplaying U.S. arms sales to Taiwan by noting that Washington makes similar deals with other countries. According to Perdue, Trump then asked Xi whether he would like to buy U.S. weapons.

By Sabina Mammadli