WASHINGTON — The United States will withdraw 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, the Pentagon announced Friday, as a rift over the Iran war widens between President Donald Trump and Europe.
Trump threatened a drawdown in forces this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said Monday the Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in talks to end the 2-month-old war and he did not see what exit strategy Washington was pursuing.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric was "inappropriate and unhelpful."
"The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks," the official said.
Germany is home to about 35,000 active-duty U.S. military personnel, more than anywhere else in Europe.
Soldiers stand next to a razor wire April 30 during a media day amid the U.S. Army Combined Resolve exercise at the U.S. Army's southern Germany training facilities in Hohenfels.
The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months.
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The official said the drawdown would bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to about pre-2022 levels, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then-President Joe Biden.
The official also cast the decision in terms of the Trump administration's push for Europe to become the main security provider on the continent.
Reuters exclusively reported last week an internal Pentagon email that outlined options to punish NATO allies that Washington believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands.
Clashes with Europeans
It is unclear if more withdrawals from Europe will follow. On Thursday, Trump said "probably" when asked whether he would consider pulling U.S. troops out of Italy and Spain.
Last month, he threatened to impose a full U.S. trade embargo on Spain, where the Socialist leadership said it would not allow its bases or airspace to be used to attack Iran. The United States has two important military bases in Spain: Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base.
Trump also clashed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the Iran war and Trump's criticism of Pope Leo. The U.S. president said in April that Meloni, once a strong Trump supporter, lacked courage and let Washington down.
Trump chastised NATO allies, too, for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, remained virtually shut during the Iran conflict, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.
"The president has been very clear about his frustrations about our allies' rhetoric and failure to provide support for U.S. operations that benefit them," the senior Pentagon official said.
German ties fray
Merz said Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the U.S. and Israel started attacking Iran on Feb. 28, and he conveyed his skepticism about the conflict directly to Trump afterward.
As part of Trump's withdrawal decision, a brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out of the country and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration planned to deploy to Germany later this year will no longer deploy, the official said.
Trump long wanted to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany. He pushed for a reduction at the end of his first term, but that cut was never enacted. Trump lost the 2020 election and Biden reversed the plan.
Trump's Wednesday announcement that he was reviewing U.S. troop levels in Germany surprised German military officials who spoke to Reuters, citing what they called constructive meetings at the Pentagon earlier in the day.
They argue that Germany did more than other allies to support the U.S. war in Iran, including allowing the use of bases and giving permission for overflights. Germany also is home to a huge military hospital in Landstuhl.
Earlier this week, the German government approved key targets for its 2027 budget, including a strong commitment to increase defense spending.
Imran Bayoumi, a former Pentagon official, said that while the cuts in Germany were not as drastic as they might have been, they nonetheless risk further dividing the United States and Europe.
"European leaders will likely push more to bolster their defense spending, viewing Washington as increasingly unreliable and untrustworthy," said Bayoumi, now with the Atlantic Council.
