Germany: Withdrawal of US troops should be an incentive for Europe

 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday, May 2, 2026, that the Pentagon's announcement of its intention to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany necessitates Europeans to seriously consider working to strengthen their defenses.

The German minister confirmed in a statement that the partial withdrawal will affect the current US presence, which is estimated at about 40,000 troops in Germany, according to him.

 "We Europeans have to take more responsibility for our security ... Germany is on the right track" by strengthening its armed forces and accelerating the purchase of military equipment along with boosting infrastructure.

Top Republican lawmakers reject Pentagon resolution

Senator Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers, chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, expressed "grave concern" and stressed the need not to withdraw troops from Europe but to move them east.

"Reducing the advanced U.S. presence in Europe prematurely, and before those capabilities are fully exploited, threatens to undermine deterrence, and sends the wrong signal to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin," they said in a joint statement.

Senator Wicker and Rep. Rogers' position intersects with the strategic orientation within NATO known as "strengthening the eastern flank," an approach that calls for U.S. forces to be positioned close to direct lines of contact with Russia.

This approach is based on the conviction that effective deterrence is not achieved from back bases in Germany or Italy, but from an advanced military presence in countries such as Poland, the Baltic states, and Romania, where forward deployment is a direct message to Moscow that any attempt to destabilize European security will be met with an immediate response.

The two officials warn that any reduction in the number of U.S. troops within the continent could be seen as a sign of weakness at a sensitive moment, so they emphasize the concept of "relocation" rather than "withdrawal," that is, repositioning forces eastward rather than reducing them.

This stance also reflects a desire to push Western European countries to take greater responsibility for their internal security, while U.S. forces focus on advanced defense missions that decision-makers in Washington see as part of NATO's overall deterrence architecture.

Political Economic Decision

The Pentagon announced Friday that it is withdrawing troops from Germany, its largest European base, as tensions rise over the Iran war and trade disputes further deteriorate relations between the United States and Europe.

As part of the U.S. decision, Washington also abandoned a plan from former President Joe Biden's tenure to deploy a U.S. battalion equipped with long-range Tomahawk missiles in Germany, a blow to Berlin, which had been pushing for the move as a strong deterrent against Russia.

Trump has called for a reduction in the military presence in Germany since his first term and has repeatedly urged Europe to take responsibility for its own security, but stepped up his threat last week after a verbal altercation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who questioned Washington's strategy to get out of the Middle East.

The Pentagon said the troop withdrawal was expected to be completed within the next six to 12 months, and the  Pentagon did not specify which bases would be affected, nor whether troops would return to the United States or be redeployed within Europe or elsewhere, while  a NATO spokesman said  the  bloc was working with the United States to understand the details of the decision.

Meretz and Trump's Response

The past few days have witnessed an argument between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and US President Donald Trump, who wrote on the "Truth Social" platform on April 30, 2026, "Mertz understands nothing," and Trump called on Mertz to focus on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, rather than "interfering in the affairs of those who are working to get rid of the Iranian nuclear threat."

Trump's comments followed criticism by Meretz on April 27, 2026, during a visit to a school in the state of Saurland, in which he said that the United States had failed to achieve a "quick strike" against Iran, and that the Iranian leadership was "insulting an entire nation," pointing to the lack of a clear negotiating strategy for Washington.

In his response, Trump accused Mertz of "not knowing what he is saying," and considered that his statements reflected the reasons for Germany's "economic deterioration," and a day later, Friday, May 1, 2026, Trump announced that the United States was backing down on reducing the number of its troops in Germany, hinting at a decision soon, and repeating his threat to withdraw troops from Italy and Spain due to their positions on the war on Iran.

On the other hand, Mertz confirmed at a press conference in Berlin that his personal relationship with Trump is "good" and that the dialogue between them is continuing, avoiding commenting on threats of troop reductions, and stressing the importance of the transatlantic partnership. These developments come after Mertz's visit to the White House on March 4, 2026, where Trump called him a "friend," before the relationship gradually deteriorated over the following weeks.