The US will be withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany after Donald Trump reacted furiously to comments from Chancellor Friedrich Merz about the White House’s ‘lack of strategy’ in the Iran war
Donald Trump has pulled 5,000 US troops from Germany after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran had ‘humiliated’ the White House.
The German chancellor – who had previously enjoyed a positive relationship with Trump – drew the ire of his American counterpart this week after said the White House has “no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations” with Iran’s leadership.
He told students on a visit to a university: “The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either. A whole nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”
But in a string of angry posts on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump described Merz as “totally ineffective” and told him to “fix his broken country”, singling out Berlin’s policies on immigration and energy.
And last night, the Pentagon released a new statement outlining the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from bases in Germany over the next year.
Spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the order had come from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said: “This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theatre requirements and conditions on the ground,” he said.
“We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months.”
Trump also said on Thursday that he would consider pulling American troops from Italy and Spain, telling reporters: “I probably will – look, why shouldn’t I?”
“Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible,” he added, criticising them for their response to the war in Iran. “In all cases they said, ‘I don’t want to get involved.'”
Germany is current home to some 35,000 active-duty US military personnel, more than anywhere else in Europe. The withdrawal would bring US troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a build-up by then-president Joe Biden.
Analysts have already voiced fears that it could weaken NATO forces in Central and Eastern Europe, the region most vulnerable to a potential Russian attacks.
Bradley Bowman, from the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said the current US military’s presence in Germany and elsewhere in Europe “not only strengthens deterrence against additional Kremlin aggression” but also projects American military power “into the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Africa”.
Trump ignored questions from reporters about the withdrawal on Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Florida.
