The Trump administration tried to pay a Germany-funded drug maker to give the U.S. exclusive rights to a COVID-19 vaccine, according to media reports.

According to The Guardian, "Trump offered $1 billion to Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac to secure the vaccine 'only for the United States'."

The Guardian quoted original reporting from the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

The moved reportedly incensed German officials.

"We cannot allow a situation where others want to exclusively acquire the results" of German researchers, foreign minister Heiko Maas was quoted as saying.