After his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump said he is unsure whether he will approve a planned $14 billion U.S. arms package for Taiwan, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that he and Xi had discussed the sale “in great detail.” Trump framed Taiwan as Xi's higher priority, not his own. “The last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away,” he said.
Trump acknowledged that under the 1982 “six assurances” — a long-standing U.S. policy commitment — the United States pledged not to consult with Beijing about arms sales to Taiwan. He seemingly dismissed that commitment as outdated. The $14 billion package, in the pipeline before the summit, would have included weapons Taiwan considers central to deterring a Chinese amphibious invasion.
Analysts framed the wavering as a signal of U.S. weakness and a departure from decades of U.S. policy across both parties: by openly conditioning Taiwan arms on Xi's preferences, Trump publicly inverted the very principle the six assurances were written to protect. The signal lands alongside the administration's earlier halt of military aid to Ukraine, which analysts have compared as a pattern of reducing support to allies deemed geographically distant from immediate U.S. interests.