NATO says number of member nations meeting contribution goal up from '23, after Trump's renewed ire

A majority of NATO members are on track to meet their targets this year for contributions to the alliance – a matter that came into focus again when Donald Trump this past weekend suggested the U.S., if he becomes president again, wouldn't provide assistance to member nations that came under attack but didn't pay.

Trump is the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee, which means he could become president again if he wins a 2020 rematch with Democrat President Joe Biden. 

When president from 2017 to 2020, Trump pressed member nations to pay their share as the U.S. has and suggested he'd pull the country out of the alliance if they did not. 

At at campaign stop on Saturday in South Carolina, Trump said he once told a NATO ally that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to “delinquent” members.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that 18 of the alliance's 31 members are on track to meet their pledges of contributing 2% of their respective Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

European nation states are on pace to contribute $380 billion in 2024, and Germany will meet its 2% pledge for the first time since the Cold War, according to FoxNews.com. 

Last year, just 11 NATO allies meet their 2% spending pledge.

Stoltenberg is also asking Trump not to destabilize the alliance.

"We should leave no room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow, about our readiness and our commitment, our resolve to protect allies," he said.