US President Donald Trump has announced that he has ordered a large withdrawal of US troops from Germany, a NATO ally, although members of his own party criticized this as a "gift to Russia" and a threat to US national security.
"We are reducing the number to 25.000 troops," Trump said at the White House.
The United States of America (US) now has about 34.500 troops in Germany, significantly fewer than during the Cold War, when Germany was the focus of US and NATO efforts to discourage an invasion of the Soviet Union.
In recent decades, Germany has hosted key US military facilities and a transit point for troops deployed in the Middle East.
Trump blamed Germany for not paying enough for its defense, calling the longtime NATO ally a "delinquent" for failing to meet a goal set by all NATO members in 2014 to spend at least two percent of gross national product on defense by 2024. years.
Germany says it hopes to reach two percent only in 2031.
"Until they pay, we're removing our soldiers, a number of our soldiers," Trump said.
However, his plan does not seem to be infected because he himself said that "when we reduce to 25.000, we will see where we go".
Since his election as US president in 2016, Trump has pushed for two percent and has repeatedly singled out Germany as the main "offender", although many others are also below that target.
Trump hinted to reporters at the White House that his decision to withdraw troops was intended to punish Germany, as he said the presence of American soldiers boosts the economy.
"These are well-paid soldiers," he said.
"They live in Germany. They spend huge amounts of money in Germany. The surroundings of those bases in Germany are very advanced. So, Germany takes, and then on top of that they behave very badly in trade with us," said Trump.
In addition to 34.500 American soldiers, there are 17.500 civilians in the service of the US Department of Defense in Germany.
This decision was not discussed in advance with Germany or other NATO members, and the US Congress - Parliament was not officially notified, which is why 22 Republican members of the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Forces protested in a letter, demanding that the withdrawal be reconsidered.
"The threat posed by Russia has not diminished, and we believe that signs of a weakening of US commitment to NATO will encourage Russian aggressiveness," the ruling party MPs wrote.
Senator Jack Reid, the opposition Democratic Party's ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized Trump's move as "another favor" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. American facilities in Germany are Ramstein Air Base, key to operations in the Middle East and Africa and the headquarters of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa; Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where Americans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were treated; Stuttgart headquarters of the American commands for Europe and Africa.
There is also the Wiesbaden headquarters of the US Army in Europe, the F-16 fighter jet base at Spangdahlem and the Grafenwehr training area, the largest NATO training ground in Europe.
Trump hinted last summer that he was considering moving some troops from Germany to Poland, telling Polish President Andrzej Duda during a meeting at the White House that "Germany is not at the level it should be in relation to NATO, and Poland is."
Duda is trying to attract more US forces, even suggesting that Poland will give more than $XNUMX billion to establish a permanent US base, which he said could be called "Fort Trump".
Under the current plan, at least some troops based in Germany may be moved to Poland.
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