Military redeployment from Germany has good and bad elements

President Trump’s order to reduce the United States’s military presence in Germany from 36,000 to 24,000 personnel has positive and negative elements.

One odd element of the order, announced on Wednesday, is the tension between Trump’s stated intent and the reality on the ground. The president says the order punishes Germany for its long record of inadequate defense spending. But while it’s true that Germany’s defense record is at odds with NATO alliance expectations, many of the forces being pulled from Germany are going to Belgium. If Trump wants to punish low defense spending, that choice of relocation is very odd. After all, Belgium spends even less on defense as a percentage of GDP than Germany!