Europe ‘Rattled’ by Trump’s U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Germany
President Trump: “We’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
Stunned by President Donald Trump’s decision to reduce U.S. troops in Germany, European leaders and mainstream media responded with a mix of outrage and panic.
Days after ordering the withdrawal of 5,000 troops stationed in Germany, President Trump signaled that deeper cuts in troop levels were imminent. According to recent U.S. military figures, of the 86,000 U.S. troops currently in Europe, roughly 39,000 are based in Germany. This is significantly larger than the 12,000 soldiers stationed in Italy or the 10,000 in the UK.
“We’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday.
REPORTER: "Why is the US removing troops from Germany?"
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We're going to cut way down, and we're cutting a lot further than 5,000." pic.twitter.com/7PK9g1Bgax
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 2, 2026
President Trump’s decision came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed that the U.S. was being “humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”
Chancellor Merz has been critical of the U.S. military operation against Iran, despite previously admitting during the 12-Day War that Israel was doing ‘dirty work for us’ in the region. At the outset of the U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran, Chancellor Merz’s Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, declared that “This is not our war.”
Germany’s chancellor should focus on “fixing his broken Country,” President Trump responded, “especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iranian Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!”
Trump:
"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… pic.twitter.com/HLnuu0s666
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 30, 2026
After sharply attacking President Trump, Chancellor Merz and his government were now in damage control mode, The Guardian (UK ) newspaper noted Thursday:
On Thursday, Merz sought to strike a more conciliatory tone at a visit to a German military base in Münster, emphasising the importance of ties with Nato and the US, and criticising Iran for refusing to take part in peace negotiations.
Without mentioning Trump, Merz said he believed in a Nato-led solution to the conflict in the Middle East, referring to a “reliable transatlantic partnership”.
German officials were keen to dampen the row. Throughout Thursday they were at pains to point out the threats from the US to withdraw troops from German soil were far from new – Trump had made them during his first term in office – and they were ready for them.
The Trump-obsessed German media appears less conciliatory.
The country’s leading news weekly magazine, Der Spiegel, covered the news with the headline: “How Trump’s Anger is Impacting Germany.” The U.S. withdrawal will force Germany to spend more on defense, forcing Berlin to cut welfare programs and social spending.
The reduction in troop numbers will affect the regional economy where U.S. troops are stationed. “Besides aspects of national security, the [U.S. bases] are an important economic factor for the respective region, for example, through the employment of Germans or consumption by the U.S. military,” Die Süddeutsche Zeitung noted.
There was, however, a significant strategic downside of a U.S. disengagement in Germany. Berlin can live with a limited troop withdrawal, “but the closure of entire military bases would be a significant step,” the German daily warned. That move could “erode the U.S. commitment to NATO,” the daily added.
Others were in a more vindictive mode. German newspaper Die Tageszeitung urged Chancellor Merz to “follow up his clear criticism of the war in Iran with action” and “prohibit the U.S. from using the Ramstein airbase for its illegal operations.”
Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche didn’t take President Trump’s decision seriously, and ran the headline: “Troop Withdrawal from Germany? Trump is Bluffing.” The news magazine urged Chancellor Merz to call the bluff and tell Washington: “Why don’t you just close your bases here?”
“Europe rattled by ‘disastrous trend’ as Trump pulls 5,000 troops out of Germany,” NBC News observed on Saturday. While the broadcaster lauded ‘pragmatism’ shown by some in Europe, it noted that the “News of the partial U.S. troop pullout from Germany was [also] met with … alarm in European capitals and at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.”
NBC News reported Polish and UK reactions:
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for the reversal of a “disastrous trend” in which Europe and Washington grow farther apart.
“The greatest threat to the transatlantic community are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance,” Tusk, whose nation sits on NATO’s eastern flank and is heavily reliant on the alliance in countering the Russian threat in neighboring Ukraine, wrote in a post on X Saturday.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whom Trump has personally attacked for his lack of support for the Iran war, avoided directly mentioning the troop withdrawal in an interview with the BBC on Saturday, but said Europe was “not strong enough,” and “it falls on us as leaders to step up into that space.”
“We need Britain at the heart of a stronger Europe on defense,” he said, expressing hope of a realignment after years of Brexit tensions with the country’s neighbors.
Europeans expect U.S. domestic pressure to force a reversal of Trump’s decision, as in his previous term. “In 2020, a proposal to move 12,000 US troops from Germany either to other Nato countries in Europe or back to the US was blocked by Congress and then reversed by President Joe Biden,” the BBC recalled.
(German media reports translated by the author)
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Long overdue. Not only did the major European economic powers not pay their politically agreed-upon NATO dues amount and dues rate (5% of their respective GDPs), until #45 had fairly criticized them, during his first term, Europe at-large has been freeloading off of U.S. military base and troop presence, since the Cold War.
European states’ social welfare profligacy and generally cavalier flippancy with regard to fiscal austerity, would not have occurred, if these entitled and lazy ingrates had to massively increase their defense spending.
Bars and prostitutes will be the ones affected by the withdrawl.
I was assigned to Germany for about a decade (though four of those years were in Iraq, 8 months in Kosovo, several months in Africa and TDY to the US of Professional Military Ed for two stints totaling another year and change).
Bars? Yeah. Prostitution? Not really. Social mores in Europe re sexual relationships are far different than the USA. If you wanna go out on the town to ‘hook up/sow oats’ it isn’t difficult. Many young German women like the novelty of US Soldiers for short term flings, at least in my experience. The biggest issue is sorting through the ones who see a meal ticket. Any reasonably decent looking, polite Soldier almost has too many to choose from.
What will definitely be impacted is the local housing markets. Most Officers and many NCO live ‘off post’ within the communities surrounding the bases. Many married lower enlisted Soldiers as well. Out of a Brigade of say 5,000 plus another 1,000 ish Soldiers and Civilians needed for garrison probably 40% live off post. Empty 2,500 apartments overnight and that’s a big hit. Combined with lack of 6K Soldiers plus probably an equal number of dependent Family members who ain’t shopping the local economy, not patronizing restaurants, bars, touristy places both locally and within Europe and it adds up quickly.
For emphasis… every US Military member in Europe… is employed. They spend money. Oh, sure, they’re not paid a lot… but the military buys them food and supplies them with services purchased locally. Until it’s not needed.
The economic impact of losing thousands of people spending money and not siphoning it off in welfare entitlements… just visualize how much of an impact that will have on local and national economies. Trump isn’t bluffing, and I hope he moves the troops and their support either home, or someplace that supports the United States.
After all, if we need to send them back to Europe in an emergency we can do that. WE can do that. I’ll bet that hurts, too.
I hope he moves them regardless. Make Germany take care of itself if they want to criticize the US. We don’t need to be paying anything for them if they are so superior, defense included.
Indeed. Pay + benefits package is actually very competitive for younger troops. An E-4 (Corporal) makes $3,303 a month. Plus basic allowance for subsistence (food) of $477 per month (not taxable). He also receives another $2,097 in Overseas Housing Allowance plus $1,198 per month for utilities. The latter are also tax free and assume he was stationed in Grafenwoher Germany with a Spouse living off post ‘on the economy’.
We shut down the base I was assigned to following my second Iraq deployment. One Brigade plus a separate CAV squadron. About 7,500 direct DoD jobs gone. The Germans were upset. We.ended up bringing both the 1st Infantry Div and 1st Armored Div back to the USA a few years later. That’s roughly 45K folks on DoD payroll plus probably 2x minimum in dependents gone. That’s a huge direct impact plus loss of family members flying over to Germany to visit/travel and spend their tourist $.
2500 vacant apartments could actually be a boon. After all they have so many new and diverse guests who would kill for housing like that. And probably will.
The ‘migrants’ probably won’t have to do much more than sign up to get one. Though these apartments are away from larger cities where migrants tend to cluster their ‘diversity’.
It’s not just empty apartments and houses. It’s the bigger impact on the local economy that will add fuel to fire.
It’s the loss of jobs both directly and indirectly related to bases that will case huge economic impact. All those services that provide local jobs will no longer be required.
This is a serious problem for Europe. They don’t want to understand that a major part of their local economic prosperity is tied directly to the presence of US personnel in their countries.
If Europe spent more time actually working on protecting their alliance with America and less time hating one man Europe wouldn’t be in the predicament it is in right now.
And let’s make no bones here. Europe is f00ked. They just don’t want to admit it.
For decades EU and US leftists denounced NATO as a front for American Imperialism and campaigned for its removal; Americans are militaristic savages!
Sidebar: The EU power elite don’t dare create a European Army; in less than a generation it would become the Northern Caliphate Army.
As some of you pointed out, US troops in Europe is really about economic benefit for the host country. If military posture was really the objective, troops would be moved from Germany to countries like Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
An annoying development is that the Republicans chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees have publicly come out in opposition to Trump’s plan for withdrawals. Despite the lack of support by NATO countries for US operations in Iran, they are concerned about coordination and unity with NATO.
The Uniparty remains alive and well.
It’s not only troops. The US pays a great deal for those bases it uses. When a country like Spain says the US can’t use what it pays for then screw them. We have China to worry about, let the freeloading sanctimonious globalists in Europe defend themselves. Germany has no army or air force, England has no navy, France is useless and Spain is run by a feckless communist that apparently loves him some muslims and hates him some Americans. Good riddance.
Trust me, I am well aware of the high costs. When I was stationed there, it was my job to secure an MOU for one of our units at a German bunker facility. They charged us an arm and a leg for accommodation during NATO exercises. I used to freeze my ass off in wintertime exercises as we moved to those crappy forward locations owned by the Germans They also charged us for access to their radar and weather datasets. The US had vastly superior military capabilities, yet we were paying them.
Since the Germans still want us there despite the lack of military necessity, they should reimburse the US government for the cost. If cost reimbursement became a requirement, I am pretty sure that the Germans would suddenly discover that fewer (or no) troops are required.
Long overdue. Not just military endstrength but a large DoW/DODDS civilian footprint needs to go. BRAC in the 90’s was a similar fight, but without congressional district impacts.
Like many defeated ideas in Trump 45 admin, he may likely succeed this time. Let’s hope so.
In my street we have a dozen houses rented to US personnel who are based just down the road.
We also have 4 of 5 houses that have been for sale since December and the same again that are available for let.
Now repeat the pattern right across our county and everywhere else there is a significant US presence. IF Trump decides to reduce the number of service men and women in the UK the impact on our local economy will be immense!
As the Philippines found out, it’s one thing to demand the closure of Clarke Airbase but it’s quite another then when it was closed!
Europe is only moments away from finding out what happens when Uncle Sam’s patience runs out.
Well, maybe the youth of Europe will finally be able to
Buy a house
The ‘youth’ in the USA are having the same problem. Average age of 1st time home buyer in the USA hit 40 last year. Up from age 33 back in ’20.
There are three main reasons that the young cannot buy a house. One, high interest rates. Two, H-1B programs that hire foreign workers over American and three, illegals taking millions of jobs that Americans would take if the illegals were not here. Colleges are also responsible for offering ciriculums that have zero future or chances of making a living with. A college degree is almost worthless in many fields and the money spent to get that worthless degree has to be repaid. That hurts the young’s credit score when applying for a loan.
You forgot a big one. The venture capital mega-caps like Blackrock and some with many foreign ties and also dirty federal legislator ties. They buy up the property and inflate the prices. They artificially lower the availability of the market when they choose to hold on to some properties just to keep them out of the market and strategically release them.
Speculating on real estate should be better regulated to some extent. There’s a difference between a mom-and-pop flip shop and a coordinated monopoly on the housing market.
Totally agree about lack of employment options and depressed wages from misuse and over reliance on imported foreign labor. The DC establishment and powerful lobbying groups will fight tooth and nail to water down workplace enforcement to not just ramp it up but to simply enforce existing law.
Interest rates in the 6 1/2 % range ain’t ‘high’ that is pretty normal, low even for post WWII era. Lets not overlook ridiculously high prices largely driven by institutional investment to buy smaller entry level/starter homes. The median home price for homes that sold in 4th qtr of ’25 was $406,000 (St Louis Fed).
With falling marriage rates and delayed marriage age (ave age 1st marriage now 30+) folks looking to buy when finally able demand a 3 Bed/2Ba b/c they gonna immediately start a family (biological clock is real) and they need the space. Those are homes the institutions bought up and rent out. ‘You will own nothing and like it’.
Not really because those young people will still need a job to pay for that house.
That was one of the main arguments during the base closings and consolidations years ago. The economic hit a lot of communities were going to experience was immense.
One of my pieces of advice to my daughter was to buy a house at every duty station and when she was sent elsewhere rent them to other military. She now has 5 run by a local property management co full of military people. She is 16 yrs in and looking at a nice revenue stream or windfall if she sells
Mr. Starmer simply acknowledges (again) what every Euro leader has noted, publicly and privately, the past 40 years: Europe indeed is “not strong enough,” and “it falls on us as leaders to step up into that space.”
Except that the leaders never do step up, do they.
Britain, France and Germany cannot mobilize their militaries. The British navy is fewer than two dozen combatants. The Kreigsmarine cannot hardly leave port. The French will build a new carrier; it will be ready in 2039.
Poland is the only major Euro power with a respectable military. The smaller states do not aggregate to anything larger: the whole is smaller than the sum of the parts.
So now, Europe isn’t a great or even medium military power, and will not become such any time soon. Even if Mr. Trump were to remove all US forces, Europe would not respond. Why?
The Euros do not believe themselves to be threatened. They point to Russia, but Russia has demonstrated that they too are not a modern major military power that can project power more than a few hundred kilometers from their border.
And there is no other military threat, is there?
Europe has understood this quite a while. Ever since the Cold War ended Europe has been able to cut, cut, cut their militaries without practical consequence. Europe has no major enemies, and so they don’t have a major military.
Logical. And Mr. Starmer knows that, and so everything he said in this news piece was fluff, there to placate the rubes.
Europe has no enemies. Europe doesn’t need a major military. It will protest the U.S. leaving only to the extent that our dollars also leave, and to the extent that the mirror reveals the Euros to be sans-culottes. And, as you might have guessed by now, Europe is getting well beyond embarrassment.
Germany is not going to increase it’s military the way it wants for a very simple reason. They have the lowest birth rate in Europe and one of the highest numbers of 3rd world muslims that hate them. No way are they going to arm an invading army within their borders.
You make a great point. The old theory behind NATO was mutual defense against The Soviet Union paid for manned by the US. That is gone, replaced by Russia which has proven they can’t even invade one country let along a continent so who are they asking for mutual defense against? Europe is nothing to the US anymore than a foreign equipment staging area for the Middle East and Africa. If it isn’t that anymore then we have no reason to be there. If Trump is successful in removing the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, Iran, and it seems he will be then we have little reason to need Europe anymore.
“”The old theory behind NATO was mutual defense against The Soviet Union paid for manned by the US.””
The unspoken purpose was to keep Germany from invading their neighbors again – and the Germans knew and resented it.
NATO needs the US a lot more than the US needs NATO. The European members of NATO should realize, keep their mouths shut and not act as impediments to a US policy that in the long run will make Europe safer. If the European members can’t do those things then why does the US need NATO?
I think the question is, will the Nato countries come to our aid if there is an altercation with the ChiComms. After seeing the most recent events unfold, the answer would be: no.
Agreed. I think Europeans have a death wish from which they cannot be saved. Furthermore, none of them have a functioning military. So, how could they, even they wanted to, which they don’t, in any way help the US?
The real question is there ANY circumstance where our so called NATO “allies” will come to our aid in any significant conflict?
The answer is the same as it always has been: NO.
Yes, they may show up for the victory parade, but no heavy lifting.
That is a bit unfair. The UK was very much involved in GWOT especially early on in Iraq and Afghanistan. The French and Germans sent troops but under restrictions on their deployment. Many NATO Nations sent ‘Special Forces’ as did Australia and their elite units are very competent.
That said there’s zero excuse for any Nation refusing use of US Bases in their Nation to support US National Security priorities. The FIRST time a Nation publicly refuses that base should be shut down ASAP without any opportunity to negotiate. Like a child that refuses to eat dinner you either feed it to them for breakfast or dump it into the trash and send them to bed hungry.
Such shirt sighted decisions about cooperation with US Gov’t should also move them lower on the totem pole for Economic relationships as well. Can’t be a ‘most favored’ Nation if we ain’t able to use our equipment on our bases to execute US missions.
“Students (of FAFO) demand…”
So sorry we rattled them.
They didn’t seem to have an issue with rabbling themselves.
been babysitting europe since the mid 1940s.
time for the children to grow up.
Was Europe rattled by the mass illegal importation of islamonazi terrorists?
We should pull out all the troops from Europe.
I’m down actually. This should be done.
I’ve been a proponent of pulling out of NATO and that hasn;’t changed. However the one concern I have is the Artic where Russia is making a significant foray and even China is interesting despite not being adjacent to it.
I would like to propose declaring victory in Europe and leaving NATO. I would also propose forming a North Atlantic Arctic Organization. It would be composed of US, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Canada (unfortunately),
Fortunately some of the countries I mentioned above are serious about their defense and would pull their own weight at least for now. Others not so much at present. Our troops in Europe could be redeployed to those countries as necessary.
The one disadvantage of leaving NATO is the loss of the big airbase in Germany and the other infrastructure built out there. The one big advantage is not listening to the French or Spanish any more. We can just tell them to STFU already.
For decades the Finns opposed NATO.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and a few others.
The Evolution of Prometheanism: Józef Piłsudski’s Strategy and Its Impact on Twenty-first Century World Affairs.
Author Phillip Tadeusz Turner, Boise State University.
American military alliance with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and a few others.
Which is why Greenland is a hot topic.
yes and why I included denmark although they aren’t that military minded these days,
Time for Europe to put up or shut up.
Well, Iran might want to occupy a few bases
Or china
The greatest threat to Europe today is Europe and its hapless governments. They want to be over run with Islam, censor speech and social media, close their working energy production in favor of green energy that is insufficient. There is nothing a US presence can do about those bad policies. Right now, Russia can’t even defeat Ukraine after over 4 years of trying so just where else will Russia try to invade and invade with what exactly?
America can continue being a superpower if we have the will to do it (and there’s the rub). It’s tough to watch the world intentionally fall to pieces around us. So many countries seem to be committing suicide.
.
We can have a strong military and a strong economy built around independence from foreign supply chain disruption and reshore manufacturing, increase drilling, mining…. and very importantly ship building. Where events outside our hemisphere directly threaten the National Security and economic well being of the broad US middle-class we shouldn’t hesitate to act decisively to end the threat. Otherwise we should concentrate on rebuilding domestically and enforcement of ruthless hegemony within our hemisphere. Relative to other Nations the USA will long remain the preeminent military and economic power.
“The U.S. withdrawal will force Germany to spend more on defense, forcing Berlin to cut welfare programs and social spending.”
What a shame. You mean Europe might actually have to step up and take care of its own issues? That’s just mean. I support this withdrawal.
Also, if the media in Europe thinks Trump is bluffing then they haven’t been paying attention.
Upvote for saying this before I got here. Agree completely: Europe has been funding their welfare and social programs with money they need to be spending on their own defense, thanks to the US taxpayer.
the fake magaers wer crying this is sending the wrong message to putin etc
wrongggg again
this is sending the right message to euros
and when the left goes hypocrite again,,when any putin moves are attributed to trumps move here
we’ll have to remind them
this is trump “defunding” euro
same way you want to defund your cities of the pd and so you need to stfu
europe is capable of defending itself
your local citizens from blmplo…not so much
The only reason the EUtopians want the US to stay is so their politicians and media can hobble US military operations East and demand we leave. It is pure political theater to divert attention from the EUtopians’ massive screwups and failures.
If Russia wasn’t so cozy with Iran…. what would be better Eurabia or EU as a vassal of Russia? Europe is toast anyway. They have committed suicide as per plan by many including the rulings from Vatican 2. So many institutions have fallen for the false future. The Us would be wise to really come down on immigration… deport to worthless (sorry Dems) and make the future with those that come to make the US better… and not one learing center at a time.
Within 25 years the Vatican will go the way of Constantinople, and they only have themselves to blame. I’m sure the muslims will take good care of all that priceless art.
I imagine that the Euroleaders must be laughing at how long it took for the idiotic USA to realize that they were paying for Europe’s defense. They never held up their end of the bargin and we did nothing about it until Trump came along. Knowing their entire defense rests of the US, one would think they would be statesmen enough to not openly criticize the leader of their protector. Not! They are so used to their utopian world that any thing they feel, they can state outloud with no fear of reprisals. All of them especially Germany and UK are reaching the point of Muslim involvement in their militaries that we can no longer trust them to help us against a Muslim nation. I truly believe that’s what happening now with Iran. My God! They depend on Iranian oil yet refused to help us. We literally saved their asses in WW11,(sic) but they refused to help us secure the oil for THEM! They will all have cresent moons on their flags so let them rot in hell.
The Swiss sound a lot like Iran. Big mouths, big egos, big on stupid.
Ethyl Mertz had it when she called Fred an old fuddy-duddy.
In the past, the US could afford to be stupid… or so it thought. Time to not throw good money after bad. Time for Europe to grow up….. well…at least long enough to show how stupid they were. No third time to save them….. Let’s see how Europe is “After America”.
Like others, I spent many years in Germany and NATO countries during and after the CW. Germany was interesting — the futher west you went in FRG, the less the German appreciated the Americans. Up by the border, they were much more accommodating. We’ve always been taken advantage of. We paid for 50% of the maneuver damage if we participated in an exercise, regardless of the size of national units. Stuff like that. Logistics, R&D, airpower, etc. If the Germans, French, Italians, and others are rattled, maybe they wouldn’t have much to be concerned about if they had national military strategies and capabiliities that weren’s so reliant on the US.
economic consequences from a us forces withdrawal for sure–would be more concerned about internal security of the people/government vis a vis the dwindling size/quality of national forces now having to face an incoming “migration” from the me and africa
I have not been to Europe since 04. I see it is time for the USA to end NATO as we spend much more then the EU and they give us little support when we ask for it. I believe the US should ask specific countries for bases and end NATO. I think the only base use would be naval and air.
How long do we have to pay for winning that war?
I live in Germany. It’s a shambles. Nothing like its former self. Efficient? Nope. Hard working and productive? Nope. The leftists have been in charge for so long, they have run it into the ground. Plenty of Germans want to turn it around. Let’s hope they succeed.
Just like after World War One, Germany is in need of a reminder that they didn’t win World War Eleven.
If I were them I’d make sure I was fluent in both Russian and Arabic.
A ridiculous debate. There is only one reason to keep US troops in Europe, and that’s to serve US interests, not as a welfare program to support lazy and unmotivated Europeans. If they aren’t needed there, they need to be removed.
It is an interesting question as to where US troops are actually needed. Are they needed in Korea where they serve as a trip wire. I don’t think Korea neglects its military. Are they still needed in Japan which is investing in its military. I think the US has close to a 1000 bases overseas. How many of those are remnants of the cold war and no longer needed?
IMO the Asian bases make much more sense as a counter poise to China. Its a long way to Japan, Australia from the West Coast or HI and logistics alone is huge factor.
European bases are relics of the Cold War. Maybe keep a presence Grafenwoher for joint training with European ‘allies’ but frankly I’d prefer doing that with Poland b/c the Poles still appreciate the USA (at least in comparison). The air bases could remain viable ….but only if we can operate out of them where the USA is doing non NATO things. When our ‘allies’ balk and refuse their use v Iran the argument to keep the bases falls apart. Much of the reasoning for keeping troops/bases in Europe is potential usefulness in middle east. With Syria more/less under control and Iranian regime on precipice its possible to imagine far less need for European bases. Though several mid east allies would be exerting pressure to keep them.
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