MUNSTER, Germany (AP) — President Donald Trump has again threatened to pull U.S. troops out of Germany, a key NATO ally and the European Union’s largest economy. Europeans have heard this before.
Trump's threats came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week that the U.S. was being “ humiliated ” by Tehran in negotiations to end the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
The mercurial U.S. leader has mused for years about reducing America's military
presence in Germany, and has railed against NATO for its refusal to assist the U.S. in its two-month-old war.
Trump wrote Wednesday on social media that the U.S. was reviewing possible troop reductions in Germany, with a “determination” to be made soon. On Thursday, he was still thinking about Merz, posting that the German leader should “spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country” than concerning himself with Iran.
U.S. allies in NATO have braced for a U.S. troop withdrawal since just after the Trump administration took office, with Washington warning Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.
Depending on operations, exercises and troop rotations, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. personnel are usually stationed in Europe. NATO allies have expected for more than a year that U.S. troops deployed after Russia launched its war on Ukraine in 2022 would be first to leave.
Germany hosts several U.S. military facilities, including the headquarters of its European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base and a medical center in Landstuhl, where casualties from U.S. wars in places like Afghanistan and Iraq were treated. U.S. nuclear missiles are also stationed in the country.
Ed Arnold, an expert in European security at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the U.S. gets a lot out of its presence in Germany — like logistics and support for Middle East combat operations — and was unlikely to withdraw.
Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Analysis agreed and said there are approximately 36,000 U.S. soldiers in Germany who primarily serve U.S. interests, including “the projection of American power globally,” rather than helping with defense of Germany.
The U.S. has invested “substantial funds” in high-quality infrastructure in Germany which cannot be moved overnight and a different deployment would cost the U.S. a huge amount of money, which would require Trump to get approval from Congress, Lange said.
As early as 2020, Trump announced plan s to withdraw 11,900 U.S. troops from Germany but that didn't happen partly because Congress didn't provide the necessary funds and a withdrawal would have required enormous investments elsewhere.
That's why Trump’s post is most likely “bluster,” Arnold said.
“There is a difference between the military view and the political view,” Arnold said. “The issue with some of these threats is that they are not quite as galling as they were a couple of years ago.”
Merz, visiting troops Thursday at a military training area in Munster, northern Germany, did not directly address Trump’s comments, but alluded to working “shoulder to shoulder for mutual benefit and in deep trans-Atlantic solidarity,” and said his government has “made great efforts to strengthen Germany’s security.”
RUSI’s Arnold said Europe is more concerned about issues like a U.S. redeployment of Patriot missile systems and ammunition from Germany to the Middle East, and notifications to NATO countries such as Estonia and Belgium that orders for American weapons will be delayed as the U.S. government is prioritized.
A senior Western official told The Associated Press they were not aware of any discussions between the U.S. and Germany or other allies regarding the possibility of troop reductions in Germany.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, noted that Europe and Germany, which recently announced its new military strategy, is taking more responsibility for security on the continent.
Last October the U.S. confirmed that it would reduce its troop presence on NATO’s borders with Ukraine. The move to cut 1,500-3,000 troops came on short notice and unsettled ally Romania where the military organization runs an air base.
The U.S. administration informed the allies early last year that it has been reviewing its military “posture” in Europe and elsewhere. The findings of that review had been due to be made public in late 2025 but still have not surfaced.
However, the U.S. did commit to inform its allies in advance about any changes to ensure that no security gap is created at a time when Russia is increasingly confrontational.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran only made the prospect of a withdrawal more likely, and a flurry of meetings has been held between administration officials, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European leaders since the conflict started on Feb. 28.
Over the last year, European allies and Canada have understood that they will have to provide Europe’s conventional defenses. The main U.S. contribution to NATO deterrence going forward will be the presence of American nuclear weapons and some troops.
Beyond the uncertainty over U.S. personnel, the allies have gotten used to Trump’s outbursts, having weathered insults as “cowards” or hearing NATO branded as a “paper tiger” by their most powerful ally in recent weeks.
Repeated threats to leave altogether, or over things like defense spending, have inured them to social media posts that Trump might be considering some action or another.
The real damage to NATO unity was done by Trump’s fixation on Greenland, and his intent to annex the island, which is a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark, including sending family members and administration officials there.
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Burrows reported from London and Cook from Brussels. Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
