British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said President Donald Trump has a point that European countries must bear a greater burden for their collective self-defense, the New York Times said on Sunday.

"We need to think about defense and security in a more immediate way," he told the newspaper in an interview.

Starmer is trying to assemble a multinational military force that he calls a coalition of the willing to keep Ukraine's skies, ports and borders secure after any peace settlement, the report said.

On Trump, Starmer said, "On a person-to-person basis, I think we have a good relationship." But, he said, the U.S. leader's actions, from imposing a 25% tariff on British steel to berating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, had generated "quite a degree of disorientation."