The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has sharply aggravated their schism with After weeks, and months, of threatening to take measures to reduce his country’s role within the – and turn it, basically, into a walking corpse -, his Department of Defense confirmed late Friday afternoon that it will withdraw 5,000 of the soldiers it maintains deployed in Germany.
The measure comes in retaliation for the German position on the war against Iran in general and, specifically, for the statements of the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, this week in which he considered that Tehran is “humiliating” the United States in the conflict. In a meeting with students, the head of the Government said that Washington had “no strategy” and because of the Iranian authorities, “especially, because of the so-called Revolutionary Guard.”
Immediately after those comments, Trump responded with a harsh broadside against Merz. “He thinks nothing happens if Iran has a nuclear weapon. He has no idea what he’s talking about!” he wrote on his social network, Truth. “No wonder Germany is doing so badly, both economically and otherwise!” On Wednesday night he announced that a withdrawal of some US soldiers from the allied country was being considered.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the measure “after a thorough review of the deployment in Europe and in recognition of the needs and conditions on the ground. We estimate that the withdrawal will be completed in the next six to twelve months,” according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.
Although Trump has threatened on several occasions to take retaliatory measures for what he considers resistance from allies in assisting the United States in its war against Iran – or, in the past, for not wanting to give in to it, among other things -, it is the first time that he has adopted a tangible measure. In recent days, also as a result of clashes with the allies over the war in the Persian Gulf, the Republican has hinted that he could also close military bases in Spain or Italy, or recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over those controlled by the United Kingdom, which are known as the Falklands.
This same Friday, Trump attacked again, when asked by a journalist, against Italy and Spain, whose governments he accused of allowing Iran to “end up having a nuclear weapon.”
According to Department of Defense calculations, the departure of this contingent will place the number of US troops in Europe at around 80,000 soldiers, approximately the same figure prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But legally there are limits to the reduction that Washington can apply to its military footprint in Europe: the US Defense Authorization law approved at the end of last year prohibits the Government from reducing its military presence in the Old Continent below 76,000 soldiers.
Legislators introduced this measure precisely to prevent the volatile Trump from unilaterally deciding a drastic cut to the US presence that would harm security on both sides of the Atlantic. The Defense Authorization Act also prohibits the Government from relinquishing the position of supreme allied commander, NATO’s top military command and which has traditionally always been held by an American.
Russia’s war against Ukraine forced Washington to once again reinforce its forces in Europe starting in 2022, which at the end of 2025 were estimated at around 84,000 troops. Of these, the vast majority, some 68,000, are permanently assigned to bases in various countries: some 36,400 in Germany, the main US support point in Europe; 12,600 more in Italy, another 10,000 in the United Kingdom or almost 4,000 in Spain, according to official figures for December. They are joined by thousands of other soldiers sent within the framework of rotating deployments – such as the 10,000 troops assigned to Poland or 1,700 more to Romania – or for temporary missions, according to the US Department of Defense.
In total, the United States has 31 “persistent” military bases – which it has used continuously for at least 15 years and over which it exercises some degree of operational control – in Europe (most in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) and another 19 facilities to which the North American Department of Defense – renamed the War Department by Trump – has “access” in the Old Continent. Most are interoperable with NATO actions and needs.
These are air and naval bases, army garrisons, missile defense systems and surveillance centers that allow Washington to maintain ground units, Navy warships (including destroyers and an amphibious command ship, based in Spain and Italy) and Army, Navy and Air Force aircraft (including helicopters, fighters, electronic attack aircraft, bombers, transport and tanker aircraft and other types of aircraft) in European territory. The command center for US forces, EUCOM, is based in Stuttgart, Germany.
The US troops in Europe are also in charge of managing the North American nuclear arsenal deployed on the continent during the Cold War as a deterrent against the Soviet Union, but also to prevent a proliferation of atomic weapons among NATO allies, he recalls in a report on the state of North American forces in Europe. The United States had almost 7,000 nuclear weapons in Europe. Currently, it is estimated that it maintains a hundred thermonuclear gravity bombs, the B61, in bases in Belgium – in Kleine-Brogel, which at the end of last year suffered several incidents with suspicious drones that flew over its airspace -, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Türkiye. None of these countries can use these weapons without permission from Washington.
