President Donald Trump said Monday he had never heard of an account by his own ambassador to China describing an offer by the president to sell U.S. arms to Beijing — before musing that such a sale “may be a good idea.”

The episode stems from remarks by David Perdue, the U.S. ambassador to China, who said over the weekend that Trump floated the idea during one of his recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Associated Press called it “an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe.”

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Perdue did not specify exactly when during the visit the offer was made, saying only that one was. On Monday, the U.S. State Department sought to distance itself from the ambassador's remarks, releasing a statement saying, “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.” The conflicting accounts left no formal arms proposal identified in the public statements described here.

According to Perdue, Trump was downplaying the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, which includes arms sales. The comments shocked both sides of the political aisle.

When Fox News host Shannon Bream interviewed Perdue, she cited those concerns, noting that aid packages including weapons for Taiwan had been delayed despite continued Chinese threats to invade the island. She asked whether the United States was intentionally holding up the arms — either because it was attempting to strike a deal with China or because officials knew the Xi meeting was approaching. Perdue made clear he was speaking specifically about selling arms to China.

“Trump is as strong on Taiwan as I've ever seen anybody,” Perdue told Bream, noting that he has already sold plenty of weapons. The two men, Perdue said, spoke extensively about U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan throughout the visit.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

Trump was asked about the report in the Oval Office on Monday during a press availability, with a reporter citing Perdue's comments specifically. “I never heard of that one,” Trump said, before attempting to correct the reporter: “To Taiwan?” The reporter clarified that Perdue had said China.

“I going to have to ask him you mean — you mean we're gonna sell — now, they probably like to buy it, because we do make better equipment, and so maybe it's a good idea,” he said. “But, uh, we didn't discuss it. He may have been talkin' about Taiwan. I think he was probably talking about Taiwan.”