Germany urges stronger European defence after US reduces troops

BERLIN – A planned drawdown of US troops from Germany should spur Europeans to strengthen their own defences further, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on May 2, following the latest salvo from Washington against transatlantic ties.

The Pentagon announced on May 1 that the United States would withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany, its largest European base, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions place further strain on relations between the US and Europe.

Mr Trump called for a reduced military presence in Germany as far back as his first term. He has repeatedly urged Europe to take responsibility for its defence.

He stepped up the threat earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has questioned Washington’s exit strategy in the Middle East.

Mr Pistorius said the partial withdrawal would affect a current American presence of almost 40,000 soldiers stationed in Germany.

According to the US Defense Manpower Data Center, 36,436 active service members were stationed in Germany as of December 2025.

“We Europeans must take on more responsibility for our own security,” Mr Pistorius said, adding that “Germany is on the right track” by expanding its armed forces, speeding up military procurement and building infrastructure.

The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months. It did not say which bases would be affected, nor whether the troops would return to the US or be redeployed within Europe or elsewhere.

A NATO spokesman said the alliance was working with the US to understand the details of the decision.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is seeking assurances of continued US support on NATO’s eastern flank amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, expressed concern about the latest setback to 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 X on May 2.

The Pentagon’s plans were the latest blow to Germany from Washington this weekend, after Mr Trump said he would ratchet up tariffs on European Union auto imports to 25 per cent, accusing the EU of not upholding a trade deal, in a move that threatens to cost the German economy billions.

A foreign policy official from Mr Merz’s CDU party said the two announcements should be viewed in light of pressure on Mr Trump both at home and abroad, amid weak opinion polling and pressure 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,” Mr Peter Beyer said.

Long-range fire battalion cancelled

NATO members have pledged to take on more responsibility for their own defence but with tight budgets and vast gaps in military capability it will take years for the region to meet its own security needs.

Germany wants to boost the number of active-duty Bundeswehr soldiers from a current 185,000 to 260,000, though critics of the defence minister have called for more in response to a widely perceived growing threat from Russia.

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

The US presence includes the giant Ramstein airbase and Landstuhl hospital, both of which have been used by the US to support its war in Iran, as well as previous conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon decision means one full brigade will leave Germany and a long-range fires battalion that was due to be deployed later in 2026 will be cancelled.

The loss of the long-range fires will be a particular blow to Berlin, as it had been due to form a significant extra element of deterrence against Russia while Europeans developed such long-range missiles themselves. REUTERS