U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by phone about the United States' "strong" support for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to the White House.

The leaders discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments, the White House said in a statement, adding that they agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation to address the full range of security challenges facing NATO.

Trump also agreed to join in a meeting of NATO leaders in Europe in late May.

In a recent interview, Trump said NATO was "obsolete because it was not taking care of terror," and he complained that various members of the bloc were not paying their dues, which was "very unfair to the United States." However, Trump added that NATO was very important to him.

Trump also emphasized several times the importance of all NATO allies sharing the monetary burden of defense spending.

source: Xinhua