Kenny Holston / EPA
Donald Trump, President of the USA
Trump threatened to cut the American military presence in Germany, where there are around 36,000 soldiers, after Merz accused the US of not having a strategy in the conflict with Iran.
The United States is “studying” the possibility of reduce the thousands of soldiers stationed in Germanyannounced Donald Trump via social media.
The statement comes just days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the American approach to the war in Iransuggesting that the US was “humiliated” by Iranian negotiators.
In his publication, Trump stated that he was “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of troops in Germany, with a decision to be made soon“.The US maintains a significant military presence in Germany, with more than 36 thousand soldiers in assets allocated to bases across the country, according to data from last December.
Merz made his opening remarks on Monday in a speech to university students in Marsberg, stating that “Americans clearly have no strategy“.
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiatingor rather, very skilled at not negotiating, allowing the Americans to travel to Islamabad and then leave without any results,” he said. He added that the “entire nation” was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership.
Trump responded the next day with a post on Truth Social, where he stated that Merz thought it was “normal for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and that he “didn’t know what he was talking about”.
“No wonder Germany is doing so badlyboth economically and in other aspects!”, said the publication.
Asked about the publication at a press conference on Wednesday, Merz said that “the personal relationship between the American president and I still as good as before“.
He has not yet responded to Trump’s suggestion to reduce US troops in Germany.
The American military contingent in Germany is by far the largest in Europewith around 12,000 soldiers in Italy and another 10,000 in the United Kingdom. Many are stationed at the large Ramstein air base on the outskirts of the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern. And although Trump has already proposed US troop reductions in Germany, these have not yet come into effect.
In 2020, a proposal to transfer 12,000 US troops from Germany to other NATO countries in Europe or back to the US was blocked by Congress and later reversed by President Joe Biden.
At the time, Trump accused Germany of being “defaulting” because its military spending was far below the NATO target of 2% of GDP. But this has changed dramatically under Merz’s government: Germany is expected to spend €105.8 billion (£91 billion) in 2027, with total defense spending next year expected to reach 3.1% of GDP.
Merz said after talks with Trump in Washington in March that Trump assured him that the US would maintain its military presence in Germanyadding that he didn’t expect anything different.
However, while Merz complained this week about the economic consequences for Europe of closing the Strait of Hormuz, Trump showed himself irritated by the response of NATO allies in Europe to the war in Iran.
Over the past two months, the US president has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the 32-member NATO alliance, viewing it as a “paper tiger” and a “single path”.
In early April, an internal Pentagon email, which was released, detailed possible measures the US could use to punish allies who, in his opinion, did not support his campaign in Iran, including the suggestion that the US might try because of its position.
A NATO official told the BBC that the alliance’s founding treaty “does not make any provision for suspension of NATO membership or expulsion”.
