The Pentagon plans to remove about 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany within a year, trimming a major U.S. military hub in Europe.
The Pentagon will withdraw about 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next six to 12 months, U.S. defense officials said Friday, reducing one of America’s largest overseas military footprints as tensions widen between President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war with Iran.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the move followed a review of U.S. force posture in Europe. “This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground,” Parnell said in a statement.
The decision lands in the middle of a public rift between Trump and Merz, who criticized Washington’s handling of Iran and said the U.S. had no clear exit strategy. Trump responded this week by saying his administration was reviewing troop levels in Germany and accused Merz of misunderstanding Iran’s nuclear threat.
Germany hosts more than 35,000 active-duty U.S. troops, more than any European country. It is home to U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, and Ramstein Air Base is a central hub for American military operations. Defense officials said the drawdown will not affect the transport or treatment of wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest U.S. hospital abroad.
Officials said the withdrawal will affect a brigade combat team currently in Germany. A long-range fires battalion that had been scheduled to deploy to Germany later this year will no longer be sent there, according to officials cited in the source material.
Some personnel moved out of Europe may return to the United States before being deployed elsewhere, officials said, describing the shift as part of a broader focus on U.S. homeland priorities and the Indo-Pacific region. A senior Pentagon official also characterized the drawdown as part of the Trump administration’s push for Europe to assume more responsibility for its own security.
The announcement follows several days of sharp exchanges over the Iran conflict. Merz said this week that Iran was humiliating the United States in negotiations and that Europeans had not been consulted before U.S. and Israeli strikes began. Trump later wrote on Truth Social that Merz “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and said Germany was doing poorly economically and otherwise. Merz has said he remains on good terms with Trump.
The cut is smaller than a withdrawal Trump sought near the end of his first term, when he ordered roughly 12,000 troops removed from Germany. That plan faced bipartisan resistance and was not completed before President Joe Biden took office, after which it was reversed.
Defense officials said the new drawdown would move U.S. troop levels in Europe closer to where they stood before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a buildup under Biden. It was not immediately clear whether additional U.S. withdrawals from Europe will follow. Asked Thursday whether he would consider pulling troops from Italy and Spain, Trump said “probably.”
The next test will be how the Pentagon carries out the reduction while preserving Germany’s role as a command, logistics and medical hub for U.S. operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
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