President Donald Trump signaled Thursday that he would consider an interim trade deal with China, even though he would not prefer it.

The president told reporters he would like to ink a full agreement with the world's second largest economy. However, he left the door open to striking a limited deal with Beijing.

"If we're going to do the deal, let's get it done," he told reporters as he left for a congressional Republican retreat in Baltimore. "A lot of people are talking about it, I see a lot of analysts are saying an interim deal — meaning we'll do pieces of it, the easy ones first. But there's no easy or hard. There's a deal or there's not a deal. But it's something we would consider, I guess."

Trump's statements add to confusion sparked earlier in the day about what the White House would accept in its ongoing negotiations with China. U.S. stock indexes initially climbed on a report that the Trump administration talked about crafting an interim agreement. A White House official then said the U.S. is "absolutely not" considering such a deal, causing markets to give up some of those gains.

Asked to clarify if Trump's position had changed from earlier in the day, White House spokesman Judd Deere emphasized the president's comment that he would prefer a complete agreement.