Sanders Questions: If China Is the Enemy, Why Would Trump Sell Weapons to Them?

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders questioned President Donald Trump's policy toward China after U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether Beijing wanted to buy American weapons.

Sanders Questions Trump's China Policy

On Monday, Sanders posted on X, questioning Trump's strategy toward China, after sharing a post of a Bloomberg report on Perdue's remarks.

"Trump says we need to spend $1.5 trillion on the Pentagon because we need to 'beat' China," he said.

He then pointed to Trump's stance on artificial intelligence, writing, "Trump says we can't have any guardrails on AI because we need to 'beat' China."

Sanders contrasted these positions with Trump's proposal to sell American weapons to China.

"If China is our so-called enemy, then why is Trump proposing to sell them American weapons?" he said.

Trump says we need to spend $1.5 trillion on the Pentagon because we need to "beat" China.

Trump says we can't have any guardrails on AI because we need to "beat" China.

If China is our so-called enemy, then why is Trump proposing to sell them American weapons?

— Bernie Sanders, September 28, 2026

U.S. Denies Arms Sale Proposal to China

On Sunday, the Trump administration clarified that it had no plans to sell weapons to China, after Ambassador Perdue said Trump had asked Xi whether Beijing was interested in purchasing American military equipment.

Officials said such arms sales are prohibited by law and that no proposal had been made.

Perdue said Trump defended a pending arms sale to Taiwan in talks with Xi and jokingly asked whether China wanted to buy American weapons.

Meanwhile, Taiwan urged Washington to accelerate a delayed weapons delivery plan to strengthen its defense capabilities against potential aggression from China.

Trump Presses Xi on Trade, AI, and Iran

Last week, Trump and Xi agreed to more favorable tariff treatment on $30 billion worth of goods from each side and established a bilateral dialogue on advanced artificial intelligence technology.

Xi called for keeping AI "under human control," while Trump favored oversight by the Justice Department rather than broad AI regulation.

Trump also pressed Xi to stop direct or indirect support for Iran.

Perdue said Beijing assured Washington it would not continue aiding Tehran, while an Iranian official said China had assured Tehran that its economic, political, and military relations with Iran would remain unchanged.