US President Donald Trump has publicly contradicted his own ambassador to China over a claim that he offered to sell American weapons to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The ambassador had said Trump floated the idea of US arms sales to China, sparking immediate questions about a possible shift in American policy. Trump denied ever making such an offer.

US officials moved quickly to clarify that Washington has no plans to sell weapons to China, and that long-standing restrictions on military sales to Beijing remain in place.

The episode highlights the difficulty of reading US policy toward China, where official statements and off-the-cuff remarks can send very different signals to Beijing, Taipei and American allies.

China has not publicly responded to the claim, and analysts said the clarification was aimed at reassuring allies that no policy change is underway.

The ambassador’s remarks had raised eyebrows in Taipei and among US allies in Asia, where any hint of a shift on arms sales to China is watched closely. Washington has long barred most military sales to Beijing under restrictions imposed after 1989.