Trump to halve troop levels in Germany
▶ Slashes of American military presence shock Germany, Europe to core
US President Donald Trump said Monday he will halve the number of US troops in Germany because Berlin is “delinquent” in contributions to NATO and treats the US “badly” on trade.
Trump told reporters there are 52,000 US soldiers stationed in Germany and he will bring this to 25,000.
“It’s a tremendous cost to the United States,” he said. “So we’re removing a number down to, we’re putting the number down to 25,000 soldiers.”
Trump’s numbers were misleading because there are only between 34,000 and 35,000 US soldiers permanently stationed in Germany, according to the Pentagon. Rotation of units means the overall number can only temporarily top 50,000.
However, the US president’s message to Germany, Europe and the US-led NATO alliance was loud and clear.
US troops have been stationed in the geopolitically vital country since the end of World War II, forming the bulk of NATO’s conventional defense against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The resurgence of Russia’s military ambitions under Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the US presence new importance in the last two decades, with central and eastern European states leading the way in pressuring for stronger US defenses.
Trump said that he wanted to punish what he said were Germany’s insufficient payments to NATO and to use the troops’ future as a weapon to back up his threats of a trade war with the European Union.
“Germany’s delinquent, they’ve been delinquent for years and they owe NATO billions of dollars, and they have to pay it. So we’re protecting Germany and they’re delinquent. That doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly accused European NATO members of freeloading by falling short of their commitment to spend at least two percent of GDP on defense and overly relying on the alliance’s historic leader – the US.
Senior German politicians expressed concern last week about reports that the US was planning to cap troop numbers at around 25,000, which appeared to catch Berlin by surprise.
The plan raised fresh questions about Trump’s commitment to long-standing cooperation agreements with European allies and the Western military alliance itself.
Trump said Germany, as the economic powerhouse of the European Union, was also to blame because “they treat us very badly on trade.”
He complained that Germany was profiting from the US troop presence.
“Those are well-paid soldiers. They live in Germany, they spend vast amounts of money in Germany. Everywhere around those bases is very prosperous for Germany. So Germany takes.”