Trump: Some troops Poland-bound

Move part of reduction of presence in Germany

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that some of the 10,000 American troops he’s pulling out of Germany will be moved to Poland on NATO’S eastern flank against Russian aggression.

“We’re going to be reducing our forces in Germany,” Trump said in the Rose Garden while standing alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda. “Some will be coming home and some will be going to other places, but Poland would be one of those other places in Europe.”

Trump has said he is determined to cut the number of troops in Germany from about 35,000 to 25,000.

Trump said that unlike Germany, Poland is one of eight members of the alliance that are fulfilling NATO’S target pledge of spending 2 percent of their gross national products on their own defense. He criticized Germany several times and said transferring the troops to Poland also sends a strong signal to thwart Russian aggression.

Neither Trump nor Duda said how many more troops would be sent to Poland. Under an agreement announced last year, the U.S. already announced it was sending about 1,000 more troops to Poland, and progress is being made, officials said, to lay the groundwork for those moves.

Based on the agreement with Poland, the U.S. will add a division headquarters, a combat training center, an unstaffed aircraft squadron and a structure to support an Army brigade that could rotate in and out of the country.

This was Duda’s third visit to Washington since Trump took office and the first visit by a head of state to the White House since the virus pandemic shut things down.

The visit came just days before Duda seeks re-election in a ballot Sunday. Opinion polls show Duda with about 40 percent support as he seeks a second five-year term, ahead of Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who has nearly 30 percent.

If Duda falls short of the majority of the vote needed to win outright, it will trigger a tight runoff election July 12.