Taiwan Arms Sales at the Center of the Trump-Xi Summit

On September 24 2026, a Chinese defence-ministry spokesperson warned the United States to exercise “extreme caution” over any further arms sales to Taiwan ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. The warning came as the Trump administration continued to hold a $14 billion foreign-military-sales package for Taiwan in abeyance, while a previously approved $11 billion package from December 2025 remains the only active sale.

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Taiwan’s security assistance is governed by U.S. law that obligates the United States to provide defensive weapons to the self-governing island, despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties. In May 2025, President Trump met Xi in Beijing and described the delayed $14 billion package as a “very good negotiating chip.” Since then, Beijing has repeatedly framed Taiwan as a “red line” in China-U.S. relations and signaled that any sales cross that line.

The GuardianReutersJapan TimesReutersThe Hill

• December 2025: U.S. Congress approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan – the largest ever.

Reuters

• $14 billion package: approved by the administration but withheld pending the summit.

Reuters

• $300 million in foreign-military-financing (FMF) for Taiwan has not been obligated by the State Department.

The Hill

• $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative remains uncommitted by the Defense Department.

The Hill

• Four Republican senators have asked the administration to release more than $15 billion in stalled national-security assistance for Taiwan.

Reuters

• He urged the United States to handle the issue with “extreme caution.”

Reuters

• Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, explained that arms sales are constrained by the need to balance the U.S.

The Hill

• Both accounts agree the package is not currently active.

The Hill

• The amount of stalled assistance cited varies: the Reuters letter references “more than $15 billion” in total, whereas The Hill summary aggregates $300 million FMF, $1 billion security-cooperation funds, and the $14 billion sales package, arriving at a similar figure but without a single consolidated number.

Reuters

• “It should be emphasized that the Taiwan question is the most important in China-US relations and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common issue of the two countries,” — Xi Jinping. Spokesperson Jiang

Reuters

• “People think … we view arm sales through the limited vacuum of the one particular place. A lot of this also involves balancing our industrial capacity and our military industrial base,” — State Marco Rubio, when asked aboutTaiwan arms salesby reporters in New York on Wednesday

The Hill

• “We can get it in the future, but we don’t have it now.” — State Marco Rubio, when asked aboutTaiwan arms salesby reporters in New York on Wednesday

The Hill

• “They are coming into this summit with very little agreement or consensus in common,” — William Yang

The Guardian