WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump, who has criticised Germany and different NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, mentioned on Wednesday (Apr 29) his administration is taking a look at lowering the variety of US troops in Germany.
“America is finding out and reviewing the doable discount of Troops in Germany, with a willpower to be revamped the following quick time period,” Trump mentioned on Fact Social.
A senior White Home official had informed Reuters earlier this month that Trump had mentioned the potential of eradicating some US troops from Europe.
The US had simply over 68,000 active-duty army personnel assigned completely in its abroad bases in Europe as of December 2025, information from the US Protection Manpower Information Heart (DMDC) exhibits.
Greater than half – about 36,400 – are primarily based in Germany. That may be a fraction of the 250,000 US troops that had been primarily based there in 1985, earlier than the autumn of the Berlin Wall and the top of the Chilly Battle.
TRUMP AND MERZ SPAR OVER IRAN WAR
Trump has been sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the conflict in Iran in current days. On Tuesday, he mentioned Merz did not know what he was speaking about after the German chief mentioned the Iranians had been humiliating the US in talks to finish the two-month-old conflict. Merz on Wednesday mentioned relations with Trump had been good, regardless of the row over the conflict.
Trump’s put up got here hours after Germany‘s prime basic, Carsten Breuer, met with Protection Undersecretary Elbridge Colby and different US defence officers on Wednesday to debate his nation’s first army technique outdoors the NATO umbrella since World Battle II.
Colby lauded the German doc, which lays out Berlin’s purpose to turn into Europe’s largest standard power in a sequence of posts on X after it was launched final week, saying it confirmed “a transparent path ahead”.
“President Trump has rightly laid out that Europe should step up, and NATO should not be a paper tiger,” Colby mentioned on X. “Germany is now taking the main position on this. After years of disarmament, Berlin is stepping up.”
