The volatile US leader has demanded that alliance members boost defence budgets to five percent of their GDP at the June 24-25 meeting in the Netherlands.
NATO chief Mark Rutte has put forward a compromise agreement for 3.5 percent of GDP on core military spending by 2032, and 1.5 percent on broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.
Several diplomats say Rutte looks on track to secure the deal for the summit in The Hague as NATO grapples with the threat from Russia after more than three years of war in Ukraine.
But a few allies are still hesitant about committing to such levels of spending.
"The reason I'm here is to make sure every country in NATO understands every shoulder has to be to the plough, every country has to contribute at that level of five percent," Hegseth said at a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels.
"Our message is going to continue to be clear. It's deterrence and peace through strength, but it can't be reliance. It cannot and will not be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats," he said.
Most vocal in its reluctance is Spain, which is only set to reach NATO's current target of two percent of GDP by the end of this year.
Diplomats say other countries are also haggling over making the timeline longer and dropping a demand for core defence spending to increase by 0.2 percentage points each year.
But the deal appears an acceptable compromise to most, which will allow Trump to claim that he has achieved his headline demand, while in reality setting the bar lower for struggling European allies.
The United States has backed Rutte's plan, but Washington insists it wants to each country to lay out a "credible path" to meet the target.
- Germany needs more troops -
In a connected move, NATO ministers were due to sign off at their meeting on new capability targets for the weaponry needed to deter Russia.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius estimated the new requirements meant Berlin would need to add "around 50,000 to 60,000" more soldiers to its army.
His Dutch counterpart Ruben Brekelmans said reaching the level requested would cost the Netherlands at least 3.5 percent of GDP.
It is not just the fear of Moscow that is pushing Europe to ramp up its ambitions -- there is also uncertainty over the United States' commitment to the continent.
"What we will decide in The Hague, what we will spend on defence going forward, the new defence investment plan, of course, is rooted in what we need in terms of the hard capabilities," Rutte said.
Hegseth, a former TV presenter, rocked NATO on his last visit in February with a fiery warning that Washington could look to scale back its forces in Europe to focus on China.
Since then, there has been no concrete announcement from the United States on troop withdrawals, but NATO allies remain on tenterhooks.
- Ukraine question -
With NATO looking set for the defence spending deal, another thorny issue threatening to overshadow the summit in three weeks' time is what to do about Ukraine.
Trump's return to the White House ripped up Washington's support for Ukraine and upended the West's approach to Russia's three-year-long war.
Hegseth underscored the US disengagement with Kyiv by skipping a meeting of Ukraine's backers in Brussels on Wednesday.
Kyiv's European allies are pressing to overcome US reluctance and invite Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to The Hague as a sign of support.
So far, NATO has said only that Ukraine will be represented at the gathering, and has not confirmed that Zelensky will be in attendance.
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