Top Republicans voice concern over US troop drawdown in Germany

A US plan to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany is sharpening pressure on Europe to bolster its own military strength, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, even as two senior Republicans warned the forces should stay on the continent.

The ⁠Pentagon unveiled the reduction from Germany, the hub of America’s military presence in Europe, yesterday, deepening strains in the transatlantic relationship as disagreements over the Iran war and trade tariffs widen.

Under the US move, Washington has also scrapped a Biden-era plan to station a battalion armed with long-range Tomahawk missiles in Germany — a setback for Berlin, which had championed the deployment as a potent deterrent to Russia.

Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, who lead the Senate and House armed services committees, said they were “very concerned.” In their view, the troops should remain in Europe and be shifted farther east instead.

“Prematurely reducing America’s forward presence in Europe before those capabilities are fully realised risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” they said in a joint statement.

Mr Pistorius said the partial withdrawal had been anticipated and would affect part of the nearly 40,000 US troops currently based in Germany.

“We Europeans must take on more responsibility for our own security,” Mr Pistorius said, adding, “Germany is on the right track” through military expansion, faster procurement and new infrastructure.

Donald Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the war against Iran

US President Donald ‌Trump had pushed for a smaller military footprint in Germany as far ⁠back as his first term and has long pressed European allies to shoulder more of the burden for their own defence.

But he intensified that pressure earlier this week after clashing with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has raised doubts about Washington’s exit strategy in the Middle East.

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The Pentagon said the withdrawal would likely be carried out over the next six to 12 months. It gave no details on which bases would be hit, or whether the troops would go back to the US or be repositioned elsewhere in Europe or beyond.

A NATO spokesperson said the alliance was in contact with the US to clarify the details of the decision.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government is seeking firm guarantees of continued US backing on NATO’s eastern ‌flank during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, also voiced alarm at the latest strain on the alliance.

“The greatest threat to the transatlantic community are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance. We must all do what it takes to reverse this disastrous trend,” Mr Tusk wrote on social media.

The greatest threat to the transatlantic community are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance. We must all do what it takes to reverse this disastrous trend.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) May 2, 2026

Washington’s latest military plans ⁠added to a bruising weekend for Germany, after Mr Trump said he would raise tariffs on EU auto imports to 25%, accusing the bloc of failing to honour a trade deal — in ‌a step that could cost Germany billions.

A foreign policy official from Chancellor Merz’s CDU party said both developments should be seen against the backdrop of mounting pressure on Mr ‌Trump at home and abroad, including weak polling and criticism over unresolved conflicts in Ukraine, Venezuela and Iran.

“Against this backdrop, both the troop withdrawal and the trade policy seem less like the expression of a coherent strategy and more like a political reflex and a reaction born of frustration,” Peter Beyer told Reuters.

NATO members have pledged to assume more responsibility for their own defence, but with constrained budgets and major capability shortfalls, Europe remains years away from meeting all of its own security requirements.

Germany wants to raise the number of active-duty Bundeswehr personnel from 185,000 to 260,000, although critics of the defence minister say that still may not be enough given what many see as a rising threat from Russia.

The US military presence in Germany, which began as an occupation force after World War Two, reached its height in the 1960s, when hundreds of thousands of American troops were stationed there to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Trump says ‘probably’ when asked if he might pull US troops out of Italy, Spain

That presence includes the vast Ramstein airbase and Landstuhl hospital, both used by the US in support of its war in Iran and in earlier campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon decision means one full brigade will depart Germany, while a long-range fires battalion that had been scheduled to arrive later this year will no longer be deployed.

Those long-range fires were expected to provide an important additional layer of deterrence against Russia while European countries worked to develop comparable missile capabilities of their own.

The US “holds a factual monopoly inside NATO” on long-range fires, Christian Moelling, director of European defence think ‌tank EDINA, wrote on X.

“That is why this is operationally more serious than the troop number.”

On Thursday, Mr Trump said he could also withdraw US forces from Italy and Spain because of their opposition to the war, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible.”

“Yeah, probably, I probably will. Why shouldn’t I?” Mr Trump said.

Donald Trump said Friedrich Merz should focus on ending the Ukraine war instead of ‘interfering’ on Iran

As of 31 December 2025, there were 12,662 active-duty US troops in Italy and 3,814 in Spain. In Germany, there were 36,436.

The EU said on Thursday that keeping US troops in Europe served Washington’s own interests, adding that the US remained “a vital partner in contributing to Europe’s security and defence”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump renewed his criticism of Mr Merz, saying the German chancellor should concentrate on ending the Ukraine war rather than “interfering” on Iran.

European governments have been on edge since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and a wave of drone incursions over the past year — alongside repeated US signals that it wants to scale back its role defending Europe — has pushed security to the top of the agenda.

Mr Merz has made national security a central priority, pledging unprecedented investment in a military that has for decades suffered from underfunding and equipment shortages.

He has also reaffirmed support for Ukraine, with Germany remaining the second-largest individual provider of aid after the US.