President Barack Obama has sought to assure US allies that President-elect Donald Trump will honour the country's international alliances when he takes office in January.
Mr Obama told reporters that Mr Trump had "expressed a great interest" in maintaining the US commitment to Nato.
During the campaign, Mr Trump said he might abandon a guarantee of protection for fellow Nato countries.
His statements alarmed the Baltic states which fear Russian aggression.
Article 5 of the Nato treaty commits allies to come to the aid of a member state under attack.
However, in July Mr Trump said the US would only come to the aid of allies if they have "fulfilled their obligations to us".
The US has long been pressing its European allies to spend more on defence.
Mr Obama was speaking hours before his arrival in the Greek capital, Athens, on his final official overseas trip.
He will later travel on to Germany and then to Peru.
Security has been stepped up in Athens, where anti-US protests are planned.
Mr Obama is expected to use his final foreign visit to calm nerves over the forthcoming administration of Mr Trump.
The property tycoon's surprise election victory has raised concern among some world leaders after a string of controversial statements he made during his campaign.
At a White House news conference on Monday, Mr Obama said his successor had "expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships".
He said this included "strong and robust Nato" partnerships, which he said would convey "enormous continuity" to the world.
Mr Obama said that in last Thursday's White House meeting with his successor, he had urged Mr Trump to send "some signals of unity".
"I did say to him, as I've said publicly, that because of the nature of the campaign and the bitterness and ferocity of the campaign, it's really important to try to send some signals of unity, and to reach out to minority groups or women or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign," he said.
Mr Obama said he "absolutely" had concerns about Mr Trump but urged his fellow Democrats to accept the result and "recognise that that is how democracy works".
In another development, the Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone to Mr Trump and agreed to work with him towards improving US-Russia relations.
Mr Trump has repeatedly praised the Russian president, describing him as a stronger leader than Barack Obama.
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