Barack Obama spoke with President George W. Bush about the urgency for aid to US automakers at a private White House meeting, aides to the president-elect said.

During Monday's meeting, which both sides described as "friendly", the two men also discussed the nation's housing crisis and the need for a second economic stimulus package.

Obama and Bush spoke about the "broad health of the auto industry", Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling on the president-elect's plane to Chicago after the meeting.