resident Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on Washington’s decision to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany, as a rift in transatlantic ties deepens over the Middle East war.
The Pentagon announced the 5,000-troop reduction on Friday, but Trump told reporters Saturday “we’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.” He did not elaborate.
The move follows a spat between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday that Iran was “humiliating” Washington at the negotiating table.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Friday the withdrawal was expected “to be completed over the next six to twelve months.”
NATO said it was “working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany.”
“This adjustment underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defense and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security,” NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart wrote on X.
There were 36,436 active-duty US troops in NATO ally Germany as of December 31, 2025, compared to 12,662 in Italy and 3,814 in Spain.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Saturday the US troop withdrawal “from Europe and also from Germany was to be expected.”
It also came as Trump announced that tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union would jump from 15 percent to 25 percent next week, accusing the bloc of failing to comply with a trade deal signed last summer.
The decision to reduce the number of troops in Germany is being met with skepticism by top Republican lawmakers who oversee US military policy.
In a joint statement Saturday, Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, chairs of the Armed Services Committees in their respective chambers, warned that the move risks “sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.”
Even though European allies are boosting defense spending, “translating that investment into the military capability needed to assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence will take time,” they said.
The duo noted that Germany had heeded Trump’s calls for greater spending on defense and that it had allowed American planes to use German bases and airspace during the ongoing conflict with Iran.
