The Pentagon will pull 5,000 American troops out of Germany over the next six to 12 months after Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized President Trump's handling of the Iran conflict, the Defense Department announced Friday.
The withdrawal affects 14% of the 36,000 U.S. service members stationed in Germany and follows Merz's public accusation this week that America was being "humiliated" by Iranian leadership. The German leader also blasted Washington's lack of strategy in the war that began February 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Strategic Military Assets at Risk
Germany hosts some of America's most important European military infrastructure. The country houses the headquarters for U.S. European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base, and the Landstuhl medical center where casualties from Afghanistan and Iraq wars received treatment. U.S. nuclear missiles are also positioned there.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the withdrawal follows "a thorough review of the Department's force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground." Trump ignored reporters' questions about the decision Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Ocala, Florida.
Democrats Sound Putin Warning
Congressional Democrats and defense hawks immediately blasted the move as a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the withdrawal "suggests American commitments to our allies are dependent on the president's mood."
The president should immediately cease this reckless action before he causes irreversible consequences for our alliances and long-term national security.
Bradley Bowman from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies warned that U.S. military presence in Germany "not only strengthens deterrence against additional Kremlin aggression but also facilitates the projection of American military power into the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Africa."
Trump attempted a similar drawdown during his first term, threatening to remove 9,500 troops from Germany's then-34,500 American forces. But he never started the process, and President Biden formally canceled the planned withdrawal in 2021.
The mercurial president has railed for years against NATO allies for refusing to assist in the Iran conflict, despite the alliance's Article 5 mutual defense provision traditionally applying to attacks on member nations, not wars of choice. Trump wrote Wednesday on social media that the U.S. was reviewing possible German troop reductions, with a "determination" coming soon.
The move tests whether Trump will follow through this time, potentially reshaping America's 75-year military presence in Europe while tensions with Russia remain high and Iran policy divides traditional allies.
