WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he and visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc discussed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue and trade in their meeting.

"We're going to be discussing trade," said Trump at the White House before his meeting with Phuc, adding that the DPRK would also be one of the topics of the discussion.

Phuc's visit came at a time when Washington was urging the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to step up economic and diplomatic pressure on the DPRK.

Early in May, in his meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged his counterparts to make efforts to deny the revenue streams that the DPRK has enjoyed around the region and to minimize diplomatic relations with the DPRK.

The visit also came amid continued U.S. bashing of Hanoi on trade.

Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday night, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned that rapid growth of the trade deficit with Vietnam was a new challenge for the two countries.