Trump disputes ambassador's claim there were discussions with China's president to buy U.S. arms

President Donald Trump contradicted a U.S. ambassador's account of a conversation Trump had with Chinese President Xi Jinping in which he asked the Chinese leader about buying weapons from the U.S. 

When asked about the statements from Ambassador David Perdue over the weekend, Trump suggested the diplomat confused China with Taiwan, the Associated Press reported.

"He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he was probably talking about Taiwan," Trump said. 

Trump also said that China would likely want to buy U.S. weapons, which he said are superior, but said no such discussion took place between the two leaders. 

Speaking days after Xi's state visit to Washington last week, Perdue told Fox News that if such a proposal were realized, it would disrupt generators of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan, while exposing U.S. technology to a potential U.S. adversary. 

The State Department on Monday said that federal law prohibits arms sales to China and no use proposal exists.