Brussels, Belgium - The US will hand over two top regional commands in NATO to European countries, diplomats said Monday, as President Donald Trump presses allies to take greater responsibility for their defense.

Washington will transfer leadership of NATO's Naples command, which focuses on the alliance's south, to Italy and leadership of its Norfolk command in Virginia, focusing on the alliance's north, to Britain, two diplomats at NATO said.

The US will meanwhile take over the command of NATO's maritime forces, based in the UK, the diplomats said.

"Allies have agreed on a new distribution of senior officer responsibility across the NATO Command Structure in which European Allies, including NATO's newest members, will play a more prominent role in the Alliance's military leadership," a NATO official said, without detailing the changes.

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"The decision relates to planning for future rotations."

The changes, first reported by French outlet La Lettre, will likely take months to be implemented, the NATO diplomats told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's a good sign of burden shifting in practice," one of the diplomats said.

The shuffling of NATO command positions comes as the US has said it could reduce its defense presence in Europe to focus on other priorities, such as China.

But the US will still remain central as it will have control of NATO's core air, land, and sea commands and retain the top position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

European countries have already ramped up military budgets in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and last year agreed to hike NATO's defence spending target.

Trump has rattled faith in the reliability of the US and last month plunged the alliance into crisis by making claims on Greenland.

But US NATO ambassador Matthew Whitaker separately on Monday insisted that the Republican was looking to strengthen, rather than "dismantle," NATO by making Europe step up.

"We're trying to make NATO stronger, not to withdraw or reject NATO, but make it work like it was intended as an alliance of 32 strong and capable allies," Whitaker said.