The statements came during a closed-doors meeting with defense ministers from other NATO countries and were provided to reporters traveling with the defense secretary to Brussels. It marks an escalation in Washington, D.C.'s long-running frustration that many NATO countries do not spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product as they have pledged. President Donald Trump often made that point during his upstart run for the White House, at various times calling the alliance "obsolete" while grousing that its 28 members need to pay "their fair share."