{"id":9264,"date":"2026-05-01T13:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9264\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:10:12","slug":"germany-is-getting-tough-on-trump-heres-why-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9264\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany is getting tough on Trump. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US president and the German chancellor have locked horns<\/a>. Spain<\/a> has shunned Washington. The Nato<\/a> alliance is more fragile than it has ever been.<\/p>\n

Western powers are determined to see off Russian military \u201chard\u201d power; they are familiar with \u201csoft power\u201d operations to undermine democracies. But how to deal with the Kremlin\u2019s relationship with Donald Trump<\/a> is now an emergency.<\/p>\n

Working out a response to internal frictions within Nato<\/a> has become a conundrum, not only for leaders in the alliance<\/a> but for the military officials who have to figure out how to keep the military machine operational.<\/p>\n

A weakened Nato<\/a> serves only the interests of the enemies and rivals of the West.<\/p>\n

Top of the list of beneficiaries is Vladimir Putin<\/a>, but China will enjoy the latest spats between Trump<\/a> and Germany\u2019s Friedrich Merz<\/a> almost as much.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in the Oval Office in March (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Merz, opting for a \u201ctruth to power\u201d approach, has said the US-Israeli attack on Iran<\/a> and subsequent ceasefire efforts had humiliated America.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible\u201d he said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Outraged by this criticism, Trump mooted pulling US troops out of Germany and, after <\/a>Italy and Spain\u2019s <\/a>refusal to allow any of territory to be used to attack Iran, suggested he might do the same in those two allied nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As the diplomatic tit-for-tat continues, Nato<\/a> is about to launch a multinational military exercise in Europe – Sword 26 – which will involve 5,000 US personnel alongside 10,000 allies training for operations from the Baltic to the Black Sea.<\/p>\n

Nato is run by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus G. Grynkewich. In March he told the US senate\u2019s armed services committee: \u201cKey posture locations in Europe preserve the President\u2019s military options in crisis and enable the rapid deployment and sustainment of combat-credible forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, he means \u201cwe need Nato\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

General Alexus G. Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) speaks during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty)<\/p>\n

And all members of the alliance, including Americans in uniform, are striving to hold it together so that it might survive the Trump<\/a> administration.<\/p>\n

The threats from Russia, both hybrid and old fashioned military, are immediate but an immediate response is only possible with American help.<\/p>\n

The US president did not consult any Nato allies ahead of his attack, alongside Israel, on Iran but has been angered by their refusal to get involved.<\/p>\n

The alliance is defensive and requires its members to take part in the joint defence of any nation that is attacked. It is not an offensive military organisation but that nuance has escaped Trump and his cabinet.<\/p>\n

The US is essential to Europe\u2019s defences.<\/p>\n

US bases in Europe are also central to America\u2019s ability to project hard power around the world. US operations in Iran may have been held back by allied reluctance to co-operate as fully as Trump wants – but that is not the only theatre where US troops do, or may, operate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Dutch Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter flies over 2 Swedish Stridsfordon 90 tracked armoured combat vehicles as the Nato allies take part in a combat display during press day for the military exercise Aurora 26 at the Revingehed training field outside Lund in Skane, Southern Sweden on April 29, 2026 (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

“The continued attacks on Nato allies are counterproductive, the comments hurt Americans,” wrote Republican Representative Don Bacon on X on Thursday, following Trump’s threat to cut troop levels in Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The two big airfields in Germany<\/a> give us great access in three continents. We are shooting ourselves in our own feet.”<\/p>\n

The US controls its operations in Africa from bases in Europe. It has run its operations in Libya, Iraq and Syria from Europe. It cannot deploy troops to the roiling Sahel in north Africa without these bases that are part of Nato\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Up to 90,000 American troops are based in Europe. Most, around 35,000, are in Germany which is its main logistics and medical hub – especially at the Ramstein base.<\/p>\n

The US Navy’s Sixth Fleet is based in Naples. Close to 13,000 US personnel are based in army, navy and air force facilities there. Another 3,800 are based in Spain – a gateway for operations in Europe and beyond.<\/p>\n

Trump has tried to threaten Spain with \u201cexpulsion\u201d from Nato – which is not in his gift – and undermined British claims to the Falkland Islands.<\/p>\n

And, of course, before the Iranian theatre was opened he had revealed he\u2019d like to occupy Greenland, part of Denmark a Nato country, and threatened Canada, another key Nato member, with similar colonial ambitions.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US Vice President JD Vance visits US military members during a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland in April 2025 (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Trump does not always make good on his threats. His critics say Trump Always Chickens Out, TACO. He claims his unpredictability is an advantage in dealing with countries like Iran.<\/p>\n

But it is his shapeshifting that suits the rivals and enemies of the west the most.<\/p>\n

His plasticine approach to Ukraine, where he has often taken Russia\u2019s side in negotiations, has kept his allies off balance and empowered America\u2019s long standing rival\/enemy Russia.<\/p>\n

Merz and others are taking a harder line on Trump that other allies, like the UK – who have deployed soft power in the form of King Charles – in an effort to mitigate his worst instincts.<\/p>\n

Yet the challenge is that he reserves his greatest insults for his allies and rarely criticises America\u2019s biggest threat, Russia.<\/p>\n

Merz and others are trying to make him sit up and listen – but no western nation can now operate on the basis that he is not putty in Putin\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US president and the German chancellor have locked horns. Spain has shunned Washington. The Nato alliance is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,151,393,5,253,8676,8857,8858,255,1801],"class_list":["post-9264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-donald-trump","tag-europe","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-germany","tag-iran","tag-nato-allies","tag-operations","tag-russian-military","tag-trump","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}