US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth it is ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 American troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months. Hegseth decided to do so after being criticized by the German chancellor Friedrich Merz threatened the US president Donald Trump.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius responded today by saying that the withdrawal of American troops from Germany was expected and added that Europe should do more to ensure its own security. “We Europeans must take greater responsibility for our security,” he continued, stressing that NATO must become more European if it wants to remain transatlantic.
Meanwhile, NATO said it was working with the US to understand the details of its decision.
“This adjustment highlights the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defense and to take a greater share of responsibility for our shared security – where we are already seeing progress, with allies agreeing to invest five percent of GDP,” an alliance spokeswoman wrote on the X Network Allison Hart.
Merz said on Monday that the war against Iran was humiliating the United States, angering Trump, who has claimed for two months that the war was won. He criticized Merz on Tuesday and said on Wednesday that he was considering withdrawing the army from Germany.
Trump threatened to do so during his first term, but he did not carry out the threat then. But now he is determined to punish allies who refuse to cooperate in his war against Iran and on Friday also raised tariffs on certain EU imports. Earlier on Thursday, he speculated that he might also withdraw troops from Spain and Italy.
There are currently more than 36,000 American soldiers in Germany, almost 13,000 in Italy, and almost 4,000 in Spain, according to the French news agency AFP.
