The White House denied media reports that US President Donald Trump handed a $374-billion invoice to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for the US “services rendered to NATO.”

White House Senior Assistant Press Secretary Michael Short stated that these reports were absolutely false.

The Times newspaper of Great Britain had earlier reported, citing anonymous sources, that Trump had handed Merkel a bill for money her country “owed” NATO for defending it.

The bill was described as “outrageous” by one German minister.

“But the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister had said.