The US President Donald Trump is weighing a decision to withdraw troops from Germany, which would further worsen relations between Washington and Europe.
This is reported by The Telegraph, citing sources.
This involves the withdrawal of almost 35 000 soldiers. There are approximately 160 000 military personnel stationed outside the United States, most of them in Germany.
“Trump is angry that they [Europe] seem to be pushing for war,” a source close to the White House said.
According to The Telegraph, the US president is considering redeploying troops from Germany to Hungary, which has close ties to Russia. At the EU summit in Brussels on March 6, the countryʼs Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed a commitment to increase support for Ukraine signed by other allies.
“The U.S. military always considers the possibility of redeploying troops around the world to best confront current threats to our interests,” commented the US National Security Spokesperson Brian Hughes.
Sources suggest that Trump plans to focus his efforts around NATO countries that have increased defense spending to meet GDP targets. The politician previously suggested that Washington would stop defending member states that have not met his spending targets.
- As of 2024, only 23 out of 32 NATO countries will reach this figure. The highest spending is in Poland (4.1%), the US spends 3.4% of GDP on defense.
- Trump has repeatedly demanded that European leaders invest more money in NATO. He has previously said that he would “encourage Russia to do whatever it wants” with NATO member states that have failed to meet their financial obligations to the alliance.
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