Trump asked Xi to buy US weapons – ambassador

Federal restrictions bar defense exports to China, yet Washington continues to antagonize Beijing by supplying Taiwan US President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping whether Beijing would be interested in buying American weapons, according to Washington’s ambassador to China, despite longstanding restrictions on military exports to the country.Ambassador David Perdue revealed the exchange during an interview with Fox News Sunday while discussing Trump’s approach to China and continued American weapons sales to Taiwan.“President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi if he would like to buy some at one point.”The ambassador did not say when Trump raised the idea, what weapons were discussed or how Xi responded. The two leaders have met twice this year – in Beijing in May and during Xi’s three-day state visit to Washington last week. Any actual sale would face major legal hurdles, as Congress restricted the export of defense articles on the US Munitions List to mainland China in 1990. The restrictions remain subject to limited exceptions and presidential national-interest determinations but...