Donald J. Trump is going to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting next week with a critical message.

The United States really cannot afford to be the “world’s piggy bank,” and that NATO’s other member nations need to shoulder a larger burden of their mutual defense agreement.

I don’t want the United States to pull out of NATO. Nor do I want there to be continued tension between the United States and the rest of the alliance.

But the president happens to make a valuable point about NATO and the burden that all its member nations need to shoulder.

Trump has sought to pressure NATO nations to increase their share of the cost of the alliance. Indeed, many of the wealthier nations in NATO — Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom come to mind — are able to shoulder more of the financial load.

I merely want the president to cease with the bellicose rhetoric and the threats — veiled and outright — of punishing our allies if they don’t do as he wishes.

The bottom line, though, suggests to me that the president is correct to insist on greater cost-sharing among the allies of this important mutual defense organization.