War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the United States would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany amid President Donald Trump’s feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump had previously threatened to punish NATO allies who refused to assist the U.S. in its war with Iran, and Germany became a natural first candidate after Merz publicly claimed that Iran was “humiliating” the U.S. After several pointed remarks against Merz, Hegseth announced the withdrawal of 5,000 of the roughly 36,000 U.S. troops from Germany.
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“The Secretary of War has ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops from Germany. 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. We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
Trump had openly floated withdrawing troops from some NATO countries on Thursday.
“Yeah, probably,” he answered when asked by reporters if he was considering expanding his drawdown of troops to Italy and Spain. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Italy has not been of any help to us, and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible,” Trump added. “When we needed them, they were not there. We have to remember that.”
The drawdown from Germany comes after insulting remarks from Merz earlier this week.
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he told pupils at Carolus-Magnus-Gymnasium in Marsberg, Germany. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
Merz’s remarks led to a sharp retort from Trump over Truth Social.
“The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!” Trump wrote on Thursday.
TRUMP WARNS MERZ TO STOP ‘INTERFERING’ ON IRAN, FOCUS ON ‘BROKEN’ GERMANY
He separately said the chancellor “doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”
A proposal to withdraw some U.S. troops from Germany during Trump’s first term in order to focus on Asia was met with widespread outcry, causing Trump to walk it back.
Mike Brest contributed to this report.
