American President Donald Trump has confirmed his plan to withdraw 9.500 troops stationed in Germany, accusing the federal republic of failing to meet NATO spending obligations and treating the US “unfairly” on trade. 

Trump will reduce US military presence in Germany

Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that he would bring the number of US troops stationed in Germany down to 25.000, as punishment for the federal republic’s “delinquent” attitude to NATO payments. 

“Germany’s delinquent,” he said. “They’ve been delinquent for years and they owe NATO billions of dollars, and they have to pay it. So we’re protecting Germany and they’re delinquent. That doesn’t make sense. It’s a tremendous cost to the United States… So we are going to bring down the soldier count to 25.000 soldiers.”

What’s the row about?

The US has had an ongoing military presence in Germany since the end of the Second World War, when troops were initially stationed as part of a NATO defence against the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. Russia’s resurgent military ambitions under the leadership of Vladimir Putin has since been given as justification for the US’s continued presence on European soil.

But Trump has repeatedly accused other NATO nations of not paying their fair share - and in particular has singled out Germany for attack. He accused the federal republic of profiting from the soldiers’ presence while failing to meet its commitment to spend at least two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, as required by NATO. While most nations have pledged to reach this target by 2024, Germany is aiming for 2031. 

Trump has therefore retaliated by saying that, until Germany reaches the target, the US will reduce its military deployment in the country. He also accused the federal republic of “[treating] us very badly on trade.” 

“We’re negotiating with them on that,” he said, “but right now I’m not satisfied with the deal they want to make. They’ve cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars over the years on trade, so we get hurt on trade and we get hurt on NATO.”