European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stressed that the European Union will explore common interests with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump.

EU leaders discussed how to cooperate with the incoming US administration at an informal meeting in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, on Thursday and Friday.

Von der Leyen held a news conference after the meeting. She said, "The United States is our biggest economic and trading partner." She added, "So it is important to build good relations with the new administration from the very beginning."

The EU and the former Trump administration experienced trade friction, with each imposing high tariffs on the other's steel and other products. Trump has been promoting his "America First" policy.

Von der Leyen said she held talks with Trump over the phone on Thursday and discussed imports of liquefied natural gas from the US, among other topics.

Von der Leyen said that the EU still gets a lot of LNG from Russia. She indicated that the EU could consider replacing it with American LNG, which she said would be cheaper and bring down energy prices. She expressed her intention to continue discussions on the matter.