Trump’s UN Rep Mike Waltz Spotlights Taiwan Arms Sale Following China State Visit

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz defended the White House’s position on a seemingly stalled arms sale to Taiwan during a “State of the Union” interview Sunday.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Waltz about U.S.-China relations following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the White House. Ahead of President Donald Trump’s previous summit with Xi in May 2026, Trump paused a $14 billion arms deal with Taiwan, framing it as a bargaining chip.

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“CNN‘s reporting that U.S. intelligence — the Intelligence Community — believes that the Chinese government allegedly provided Iran with satellite images that were used to coordinate a deadly attack against a U.S. base,” Tapper stated before asking Waltz, “How much did President Trump push President Xi on that issue and on whatever China is doing tacitly, or any other way to support Iran in the war?”

“Well, Jake, obviously, I’m not going to get into leaked intelligence assessments, but what I can tell you: President Trump has raised it multiple times, raised it in Beijing, raised it during this summit,” Waltz replied. “And I think we have seen movement in a positive direction. But President Trump has made it clear it’s unacceptable.”

Iran obtained satellite imagery from Chinese entities before launching a July 17 strike which killed three American service members and injured four others at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 11, citing U.S. officials familiar with the details. Chinese officials, however, denied the allegations.

Xi reportedly then threatened to cancel the upcoming summit if Trump approved additional arms sales to Taiwan. A senior U.S. official, however, stated such reporting was inaccurate, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported Sept. 17.

“On the matter of China and Taiwan, Congress, as you know, has signed off on this $14 billion arms deal, the U.S. selling arms to Taiwan. The Taiwanese, as I understand it, have already given us the money, and the world is just waiting for President Trump’s official signoff for those weapons to start going to Taiwan,” Tapper stated before asking Waltz, “When can the Taiwanese expect us to honor our end of this deal?”

“Well, I mean, Jake, just the fuller picture is that, in just last year, the United States and this administration has granted more arms sales in a year — in its first year — than the last administration in its entire term,” Waltz replied. “There is a huge backlog of arms, and a lot of this is about our industrial base and being able to produce not only what they are requesting, but what the Europeans are requesting. Some of these things are overlapped, and, of course, what our military needs.”