Trump Says US 'Reviewing' Troop Reduction in Germany

President Trump on Wednesday leveled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the US military presence there as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israel war against Iran. Trump made the threat after Merz said earlier this week that the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticized Washington's lack of strategy in the war. Trump has also repeatedly railed against NATO for the alliance's refusal to assist the US in its two-month-old war.

• "The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
• On Tuesday, the day after Merz's Iran remarks, Trump posted that Merz "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn't know what he's talking about!" Trump added: "No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!"

Merz had said earlier Wednesday that his personal relationship with Trump remained "as good as ever," but he had "had doubts from the very beginning about what was started there with the war in Iran." During his first term in the White House, Trump also moved to cut US troops in Germany because he said the country spent too little on defense and had treated the US "very badly on trade." In June 2020, Trump declared he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops who were then stationed in Germany, but the process never actually started. Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.

The US has several major military facilities in the country, including the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States. Reuters reports that around 36,400 active-duty US personnel are currently based in Germany, down from 250,000 in 1985, before the end of the Cold War.

• Merz met with Trump at the White House in March, just days after the US and Israel began their bombardment of Iran. At the time, Merz told Trump that Germany was eager to work with the US on a strategy for when the current Iranian government no longer exists. Merz also expressed concern that an extended conflict could do great damage to the global economy.
• His concern, like many other European leaders, has only grown as the US and Iran have yet to come to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which about 20% of the world global oil supply had flowed prior to the start of the war.
• "We are suffering considerably in Germany and in Europe from the consequences of, for example, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz," Merz said Wednesday, hours before Trump posted his threat. "And in that regard, I urge that this conflict be resolved."