The U.S. has angered world leaders after reportedly confiscating millions of 3M masks that were set to be shipped to Washington's allies amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This came after an order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that directs his administration to stop N95 face masks and other personal protective equipment needed in the fight against the pandemic from being exported to other countries.

In a statement, Trump said his order under the Defense Production Act "is another step in our ongoing fight to prevent hoarding, price gouging, and profiteering by preventing the harmful export of critically needed PPE."

Berlin's Interior Minister Andreas Geisel blasted this as an act of "modern-day piracy," as the U.S. reportedly "intercepted" 200,000 masks Germany had ordered from 3M factories in China.

Geisel called on Germany's government to "press the U.S. to stick to international rules," while Berlin's mayor accused President Trump of "lacking solidarity."

The Daily Mail reported on Friday that U.S. buyers paid three times the going rate to secure a shipment of face masks that were due bound to France, where 65,202 people have tested positive to COVID-19, and 6,520 have died.    

Jean Rottner, a doctor and president of the Grand Est regional council said the U.S. buyers had turned up on the tarmac of the airport "offering cash" to divert the air cargoes, which were ready to take off to the Grand Est region in northwest France, to the U.S.

"On the tarmac, they arrive, get the cash out … so we really have to fight," he said.

The leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, also accused unidentified Americans of outbidding them with cash for shipments of medical supplies that were already promised to French buyers.

They "are just looking to do business on the back of the whole world's distress," she said on the local television.

An anonymous U.S. senior official on Thursday rejected allegations, according to AFP.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday asked officials to look into similar claims that masks were being diverted from his country, calling such reports "concerning."

Trudeau said blocking the flow of medical supplies across the border would be a "mistake," and such a move could backfire. He also noted that Canadian healthcare professionals go to the United States to work in Detroit every day. 

Canada and the United States closed their common border to all non-essential traffic earlier this month.

Asked whether Canada would retaliate if the U.S. blockade goes ahead, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa would "do whatever it takes to defend the national interest."

Canada acknowledged that the country wouldn't have enough capacity to produce medical protection gears to cope with the surge of the infected patients.

It has allocated 1.4 billion U.S. dollars to buy medical supplies overseas, while urging the local companies to redirect their assembly lines to produce medical equipment like masks and ventilators.

Trump slammed 3M during a White House press briefing Friday evening, accusing the company of diverting supplies from hospitals and health care providers overseas to make a profit.

"We're not happy with 3M. We're not at all happy with 3M. And the people who dealt with it directly are not happy with 3M," Trump said.

In a CNBC interview, 3M CEO Mike Roman said it was "absurd" to suggest his company wasn't doing all it could to help the U.S. fight the pandemic.

The U.S. manufacturing giant had warned the Trump administration that halting its exports of respirator masks could make them even less available in the United States.

"Ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done," 3M said. "If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease. That is the opposite of what we and the administration, on behalf of the American people, both seek."

(With input from agencies)