{"id":9483,"date":"2026-05-02T00:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T00:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9483\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T00:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T00:31:40","slug":"us-to-pull-5000-troops-out-of-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9483\/","title":{"rendered":"US to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump is to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany amid an intensifying row<\/a> with Friedrich Merz.<\/p>\n

The US president threatened to redeploy American forces<\/a> in the country this week, having been angered by the German chancellor\u2019s claim that Iran had \u201chumiliated\u201d the US.<\/p>\n

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, \u201chas ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops from Germany\u201d, said Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, late on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision follows a thorough review of the department\u2019s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theatre requirements and conditions on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

The troop withdrawal will be completed \u201cover the next six to 12 months\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mr Merz claimed the US had been \u201chumiliated by the Iranian leadership\u201d<\/a> after an American delegation left negotiations in Islamabad on April 12 without a peace deal.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The US president had threatened to withdraw forces earlier in the week after sparring with Friedrich Merz – Reuters<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has repeatedly lashed out at his former ally in the days since, saying the German chancellor was \u201cdoing a terrible job\u201d and \u201cdoesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about\u201d.<\/p>\n

A senior Pentagon official told Reuters: \u201cThe president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks\u201d, calling Mr Merz\u2019s comments \u201cinappropriate and unhelpful\u201d.<\/p>\n

The official said a brigade combat team would be withdrawn from Germany, and a battalion that was planned to be deployed later this year would no longer be sent.<\/p>\n

The US currently has around 35,000 active-duty personnel in the country, who make up the bulk of America\u2019s military presence on the continent.<\/p>\n

\"Germany<\/p>\n

Germany is the US military\u2019s biggest basing location in Europe – AFP<\/p>\n

An insider told The Telegraph on Wednesday that Mr Trump could instead redeploy the troops to Poland, Romania, the Middle East or Greenland.<\/p>\n

Bolstering the American presence in Greenland<\/a> would cause consternation in Europe after the US president repeatedly threatened to annex the territory, which belongs to Denmark, a Nato ally.<\/p>\n

Germany has the largest defence budget in Europe, which at \u20ac106.9bn ($125.37bn) is some 25 per cent higher than Britain\u2019s military spending.<\/p>\n

Its spending, roughly triple its budget from 2014, is seen as a response to Mr Trump\u2019s frequent threats that he will not defend Nato allies, in addition to the threat posed by Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Mr Merz has said Germany will spend \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d, and military spending has been exempted from constitutional limits on the national debt.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The US could instead redeploy the troops to Poland, Romania, the Middle East or Greenland – AFP<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s relationship with many European leaders has fallen apart since the start of the Iran war, when he believes the US\u2019s allies failed to come to its aid.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, he suggested he could withdraw troops from elsewhere on the continent, complaining that Italy \u201chas not been of any help to us\u201d and Spain had been \u201cabsolutely horrible\u201d.<\/p>\n

The King, in his address to Congress on Tuesday, urged the US to remember the value of Nato<\/a> and how the alliance came to America\u2019s aid after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

Separately, Mr Trump, whose popularity has declined the longer the war drags on amid surging oil prices, claimed the conflict was \u201cterminated\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been no exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since April 7, 2026,\u201d the US president wrote in a letter to Congress. \u201cThe hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message appeared to be an attempt to stop Congress<\/a> wresting away control of the war, which limits military operations to 60 days without congressional approval.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Mr Trump is without an obvious exit strategy from the war. Iran has proved willing to soak up military and economic pain from the US\u2019s bombing and blockade of its ports, while it is unwilling to negotiate away its nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

Walking away also presents issues for the US president, as it would effectively leave Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas flows.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump is to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany amid an intensifying row with Friedrich Merz. The US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9009,479,151,393,587,5,253,590,8971,8296],"class_list":{"0":"post-9483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-american-delegation","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-friedrich-merz","12":"tag-german-chancellor","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-mr-trump","16":"tag-troops","17":"tag-us-president"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483","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=9483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}