President Trump said he plans to pull troops out of Germany, claiming the country is “delinquent” on NATO’s defense spending target.
Trump said on Monday he would cap the number of troops in Germany to 25,000, meaning he would pull roughly 9,500 troops from the country.
“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.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization outlined in 2014 that each member state should spend 2% of its GDP on defense, Reuters reported. Most countries don’t meet the target, which Trump has pointed out multiple times since he was elected to office.
Republicans have been resistant to pulling U.S. troops out of Germany, citing the threats posed by Russia, which may hinder any plans for a withdrawal.
Germany’s ambassador to the United States, Emily Haber, said U.S.-German relations will remain “very close.”
“Our cooperation on military and security matters has always been very close and will remain so,” she told a virtual think tank event. “U.S. troops … are not there to defend Germany. They are there to defend the transatlantic security. … They are also there to project American power in Africa, in Asia,” she said.
