President Donald Trump said on Monday he would cut the number of U.S. troops in Germany to 25,000, faulting the close U.S. ally for failing to meet NATO’s defense spending target and accusing it of taking advantage of America on trade.
He accused Germany of being “delinquent” in its payments to Nato, and insisted on the finality of his decision unless Berlin changed course.
Mr Trump has since being elected as President complained that European members of Nato should spend more on their own defence.
Germany’s ambassador to the US said American troops were not there to defend Germany but defend transatlantic security as whole.
The reduction of about 9,500 troops would be a remarkable rebuke to one of the closest U.S. trading partners and could erode faith in a pillar of postwar European security: that U.S. forces would defend alliance members against Russian aggression.
It was not clear whether Trump‘s stated intent, which first emerged in media reports on June 5, would actually come to pass given criticism from some of the president’s fellow Republicans in Congress who have argued a cut would be a gift to Russia.
Speaking to reporters, Trump accused Germany of being “delinquent” in its payments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and vowed to stick with the plan unless Berlin changed course.
“So we’re protecting Germany and they’re delinquent. That doesn’t make sense. So I said, we’re going to bring down the count to 25,000 soldiers,” Trump said, adding that “they treat us very badly on trade”.
Reuters / BBC
