what was said

“But I will tell you, the secretary general, Stoltenberg, is Trump’s biggest fan. He says, ‘Those NATO nations are going like this: less money, less money. Why not? And when you started talking, it went like a rocket ship.’”

— President Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in Great Falls, Mont., on Thursday

the facts

This is exaggerated.

It’s unclear what Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, has said to Mr. Trump. But the notion that Mr. Trump single-handedly and drastically reversed military spending by members is inaccurate.

As The New York Times has previously explained, each of NATO’s 29 members has pledged to spend at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on its own defense each year. Just four countries — the United States, Britain, Greece and Estonia — met that goal in 2017, according to NATO. (Poland reached 1.99 percent.)

Average spending by members other than the United States has generally been declining since the end of the Cold War, dipping to 1.4 percent of G.D.P. in 2014 and 2015 before increasing to 1.42 percent in 2016 and 1.45 percent in 2017.

So NATO members began to spend more on their militaries before Mr. Trump took office. It’s possible that Mr. Trump’s dedication to the issue has spurred NATO members to continue to do so, but they are also motivated by Russia’s aggressive actions, experts have previously told The Times.