WASHINGTON — The U.S. is withdrawing approximately 5,000 troops from Germany, Pentagon officials said Friday, after President Donald Trump was angered by criticism from the German chancellor over the war with Iran.
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The move would include one brigade combat team as well as other forces inside Germany, the officials said. The decision does not appear to affect the U.S. military’s massive medical support bases, like Landstuhl, where thousands of troops, including those who have been injured during the war in Iran, have been taken for medical treatment.
The decision was a direct response to comments made by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but also reflected Trump’s frustration that U.S. allies aren’t doing enough, according to a senior Pentagon official. Trump has been threatening Germany and other NATO allies over their refusal to engage in the U.S. and Israel-led war on Iran. He suggested earlier this week he might pull troops from Germany.
“The Europeans have not stepped up when America needed them,” the official said. “This cannot be a one-way street.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the withdrawal figure in a statement Friday and said it would be completed over the next six months to a year.
“This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground,” he said.
The White House referred questions to the Pentagon. A spokesperson from the German embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment.
Speaking to high school students in Germany this week, Chancellor Merz said the U.S. was being humiliated by Iran’s leadership.
“The Americans obviously have no strategy,” the German leader said. He compared Trump’s war on Iran to Afghanistan and Iraq. “This situation is, as I said, at least ill-considered and I do not see at the moment what strategic exit the Americans are choosing now.”
The president could barely contain his frustrations, posting online: “The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Trump added that it was no surprise “that Germany is doing so poorly, both economically and in other respects!”
Still, Merz told reporters Wednesday that his “personal relationship between the American president and me is, from my perspective, still good.”
The decision comes just days after the chief of Germany’s armed forces visited Washington to discuss a new military national security strategy that calls for major new investments on high-tech weaponry.
Top policy officials in the Pentagon have long wanted to realign U.S. forces away from Europe and the Middle East, potentially in favor of redeploying them to the Indo-Pacific.
During his first term, Trump announced he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops who were then stationed in Germany, but it did not happen. Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.