Trump Surprises Germany With Plan to Withdraw 9,500 U.S. Troops
The cut would limit American troop strength in Germany to 25,000 permanently assigned service members.
(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel was caught off guard by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull 9,500 U.S. troops out of Germany by September.
The government wasn’t officially notified by the U.S. about Trump’s plan, and it has so far only found out about the matter from media reports, a German government official said on Saturday, declining to comment further.
The decision to pull more than a quarter of U.S. troops out of Germany comes after years of tension between the U.S. and Chancellor Angela Merkel over her country’s military spending. The change has been discussed within the Trump administration since last September and reflects increases in military outlays by U.S. allies that allow for such cuts, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not be identified.
“These plans demonstrate once again that the Trump administration neglects a central element of leadership: the involvement of alliance partners in the decision-making process,” Johann Wadephul, deputy leader of Merkel’s CDU-led caucus group, said in an emailed statement on Saturday, complaining that the U.S. hadn’t notified the German government before the decision. “For us Europeans, this is one more wake-up call to take our destiny with regard to security policy more decisively into our own hands.”
From the U.S. point of view, the troop withdrawal would make sense, another German official said under the condition of anonymity. Germany is no longer in the front line like during the Cold War, but has instead become a hub for U.S. operations in the Middle East. The U.S. would therefore most likely not withdraw all of its troops, but only ones who are no longer needed.
G-7 Meeting
The cut, reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, would reduce American troop strength in Germany to 25,000 permanently assigned service members, compared with about 34,500 now, the person said. Merkel’s decision to stay away from a Group of Seven meeting that Trump had planned to host in Washington this month had no influence on the planned pullout, the person said.
A White House National Security Council spokesman, John Ullyot, said that Trump “continually reassesses the best posture” for U.S. forces and their overseas presence. The U.S. is “committed to working with our strong ally Germany to ensure our mutual defense” and other matters.
Merkel and Germany have been a prime target of Trump’s push to shift more defense spending to North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, which he has, in effect, accused of freeloading off U.S. military power.
In April 2019, he struck a more conciliatory tone. “We’ve picked up over $140 billion of additional money, and we look like we’re going to have at least another $100 billion more in spending” in 2020 by NATO members, excluding the U.S., the president said at the time.
Trump Warning
Trump also warned Germany in December that while it was coming along on increases in defense spending, he might take action related to trade with Europe if Merkel’s government didn’t do more to reach NATO members’ agreed goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product on their military.
Merkel’s defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said in November that Germany wouldn’t meet the NATO benchmark until 2031 because of a lack of military personnel.
Historically one of America’s most loyal allies, Germany is still home to the biggest U.S. contingent in Europe and hosts key overseas installations such as the Ramstein Air Base and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
“Everybody profits from the cohesion of the Nato alliance, only Russia and China benefit from dispute,” Wadephul said.
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