{"id":8346,"date":"2026-05-22T12:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/8346\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:09:09","slug":"nato-allies-baffled-by-trump-sending-troops-to-poland-weeks-after-ordering-a-drawdown-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/8346\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO allies baffled by Trump sending troops to Poland weeks after ordering a drawdown in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front centre right, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, front centre left, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday.Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

NATO allies and defence officials expressed bewilderment on Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after he ordered the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.<\/p>\n

The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing \u2013 not increasing \u2013 the American military footprint in Europe. Trump\u2019s initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America\u2019s commitment to Europe\u2019s security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO\u2019s eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer deploying to Poland. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.<\/p>\n

European leaders see Trump\u2019s troop drawdown from Germany as sign to take care of own security<\/a><\/p>\n

But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would send \u201can additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,\u201d citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,\u201d Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters at a meeting Friday that she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.<\/p>\n

Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump\u2019s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Bra\u017ee, who said allies knew the U.S. troop \u201cposture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO alliance has to be good for all involved, Rubio says.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

U.S. defence officials also expressed confusion. \u201cWe just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don\u2019t know what this means either,\u201d said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.<\/p>\n

But Rubio played down the issue. He said that \u201cthe United States continues to have global commitments that it needs to meet in terms of our force deployment, and that constantly requires us to re-examine where we put troops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s vow to withdraw forces came after Merz criticized U.S.<\/p>\n

The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to co-ordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO\u2019s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being \u201chumiliated\u201d by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.<\/p>\n

U.S. to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany in next 6-12 months<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent\u2019s biggest auto producer.<\/p>\n

Rubio insisted that Trump\u2019s decision \u201cis not a punitive thing. It\u2019s just something that\u2019s ongoing.\u201d He has often been called on to offer a less antagonistic U.S. presence at meetings with European partners, but Rubio did skip the last NATO gathering of foreign ministers in December.<\/p>\n

Trump is ‘very disappointed at NATO right now,’ Rubio says.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

U.S. has a commitment to keep at least 76,000 troops in Europe<\/p>\n

About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.<\/p>\n

The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that \u201cthe presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. \u201cWe have a process in place. This is normal business,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s NATO meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, was aimed at preparing for a summit of Trump and his counterparts in Turkey in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front centre right, and NATO Secretary-General Mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5534,6819,6829,1593,6813,6830,5939,6812,6824,6825,6821,6814,6811,229,264,526,6823,6818,6841,6815,6816,754,6820,954,1074,6831,5867,6836,6837,6839,6834,6838,6832,6835,6817,9,6827,6828,122,6826,6833,407,843,558,6822,6221,331,6840],"class_list":["post-8346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-poland","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-poland","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}