BERLIN — Germany summoned the U.S. ambassador in Berlin on Friday after the arrest of a man reported to have spied for the United States, heightening friction between the two countries over alleged U.S. eavesdropping in Germany.

U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson was called in “in connection with an investigation by the federal prosecutor,” the German Foreign Ministry said. The U.S. envoy “was asked to help in the swift clarification” of the case.

Federal prosecutors say a 31-year-old German man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of spying for foreign intelligence services. They did not identify the suspect or the intelligence services.

Der Spiegel magazine and the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that the man worked for Germany’s foreign intelligence service, known by its German acronym BND.

The newspapers said the man was suspected of passing on information about a German parliamentary committee investigating the activities of U.S. and other intelligence agencies in Germany. He claimed to have worked with U.S. intelligence since 2012, they reported.

Reports that the National Security Agency spied on German citizens, including on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, have caused friction between Berlin and Washington since they were first published last year, based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Martina Renner, a member of the opposition Left Party on the parliamentary panel, said the case indicated that anyone who examined Snowden’s revelations in detail was subject to scrutiny by U.S. intelligence agencies.

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