NATO allies cannot rely on the United States to defend them and need to step up themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

“The United States is proud to be here, to stand with our allies, but our message is gonna continue to be clear: It’s deterrence and peace through strength, but it cannot be reliance,” Hegseth told reporters ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

“It cannot and will not be reliance on America. It can’t just be U.S. capabilities,” he said.

The military alliance’s defense ministers are gathering in Brussels a few weeks before a high-stakes summit of NATO leaders in The Hague.

The ministers at Thursday’s meeting are widely expected to agree on updated capability targets — meaning new requirements for military equipment — and to pave the way for a deal later this month on a new defense spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to NATO’s mutual defense clause, known as Article 5.

“Our commitment to Article 5 remains, but we also think it’s reasonable that our allies be also committed to Article 3,” the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the military alliance’s requirement to build capacity to resist an armed attack.

Hegseth insisted that all NATO ally had to their part in the continent’s defense. “The reason I’m here is to make sure every country in NATO understands every shoulder has to be to the plow, every country has to contribute at that level of 5 percent,” he said, adding that he is confident an agreement will be reached in The Hague.