President Trump does not plan to discuss the withdrawal of American troops from Germany when he meets with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the NATO summit next week, a senior administration official said Thursday, pushing back on a report that Trump was considering such a move due to frustrations over Germany’s joint security contributions.
“There is nothing being said at all about troop alignment in Germany or anything that would change the 32,000 troop force that we have there,” a senior administration official said on a call about Trump’s upcoming trip.
“I have heard nothing on that,” the official added.
Trump had reportedly floated the idea of removing or relocating troops from Germany during a meeting with White House and military officials earlier this year. He has regularly criticized Germany and other American allies for spending too little on their own defense and leaving the “lion’s share” of NATO funding to the U.S.
The president teased the issue in letters last week to several European counterparts ahead of their summit in Brussels.
“As we discussed during your visit in April, there is growing frustration in the United States that some allies have not stepped up as promised,” Trump wrote in a letter to Merkel, according to the New York Times.
“The United States continues to devote more resources to the defense of Europe when the Continent’s economy, including Germany’s, are doing well and security challenges abound. This is no longer sustainable for us,” the letter continued.
Pentagon officials have reportedly begun evaluating the potential costs of re-positioning U.S. forces in Germany. However, White House officials told the Washington Post last month that the review was not requested by the president and is “not out of the norm” for Defense Department analyses.
Trump will hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the NATO summit, including one with Merkel, that are expected to be unusually tense due to his administration’s recent actions on trade and his sharp criticism of the alliance.
“This is a very substantive and meaty summit,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson told reporters Thursday, suggesting next week’s gathering might be “one of the most productive we’ve ever had.”
