MSNBC host grills NATO chief on Trump's defense spending comments, who responds, "he was right."

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised President-elect Donald Trump's call for allied nations to increase defense spending, in response to MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire prompting him to criticize the returning president.

"In 2018, at a NATO meeting in Brussels, President Donald Trump came close to withdrawing the United States from the organization, according to Lemire. Since then, he has consistently criticized NATO. How is the alliance preparing for his potential return?"

"In 2018, Rutte was correct when he stated that we needed to increase our defense spending. Since then, we have significantly increased our defense spending on the European side, thanks to Donald Trump's influence."

Trump has been criticized for harming the United States' standing abroad by attacking allies and threatening to withdraw from NATO over unpaid defense contributions.

Following Russia's annexation of Crimea a decade ago, NATO members pledged to increase their defense spending to 2% of their annual GDP.

In 2021, only six NATO member nations met the 2% spending goal, but this year, the alliance anticipates that 23 out of 32 nations will achieve the target, as per summer data.

Rutte emphasized on "Morning Joe" Wednesday that NATO leaders have stressed that the 2% target should be viewed as a minimum since Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"If we want to maintain the deterrence against the Russians and others in the long term, we must aim for much more than 2%," he stated.

Rutte requested that Trump streamline the process of selling military equipment to European allies, stating that they are currently spending hundreds of billions of dollars on American gear. However, the process is overly complicated and requires approval from multiple government agencies, Rutte explained.

Rutte stated that he can assist him and us in helping him, as well as the American economy in opening up, ensuring complete access to the defense industrial base in the U.S.

He added, "More defense spending on the European side is necessary. However, I need his help to ensure that we can also access the excellent work being produced by the Americans."

According to NATO, both Poland and Estonia outpaced the United States in the percentage of their GDP spent on defense this year. The U.S. is estimated to have spent 3.38% of its GDP on defense.

POLITICO reported that Rutte, who assumed the NATO role on Oct. 1, was the Dutch prime minister during Trump's first term and was known as a "Trump whisperer."