Trump says the U.S. will withdraw “much more than 5,000” U.S. military personnel from Germany

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Saturday that he plans to withdraw “much more than 5,000” American soldiers from their bases in Germany, amid his criticism of European allies for their lack of support in the war against Iran. «We are going to reduce drastically and we are going to cut much more than 5,000», Trump said in statements to the media in Florida.
This statement is also interpreted as a reaction to the criticism of the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who accused the Republican president of having been «humiliated» by Tehran in the negotiations to reach a final agreement to the conflict. Trump’s comments come a day after senior Pentagon officials announced that the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, had ordered the withdrawal of “approximately 5,000 soldiers from Germany”.

The tensions between Trump and Germany

This decision was due to the “needs and conditions of the theater of operations”, although it coincided with tensions between the Trump Administration and its European allies, whom it reproaches for not having helped in the conflict in Iran. According to Pentagon sources, “the withdrawal will be completed in the next six to twelve months.” Currently, the U.S. Army has a massive presence in Germany with more than 36,000 active-duty soldiers, distributed across several key facilities in the country, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters in Wiesbaden, the training areas of Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels in Bavaria, Spangdahlem Air Base, and the Stuttgart military complex.

Critical Position on Iran

Despite Merz being one of the first European leaders to support the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran, his position has become more critical over time.

NATO «works» with the U.S. to «understand» the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Germany

http://efe.com/mundo/2026-05-02/alemania-retirada-tropas-eeuu-reaccion/embed/#?secret=peMvVGf2qI#?secret=kBTTIklA6L The German chancellor’s stance has earned him the reproaches of the Republican, who yesterday warned Merz that he should be more concerned with “fixing” his “broken” country and ending the war in Ukraine than “interfering” in the conflict with Iran. Trump has repeatedly criticized his European allies for not heeding Washington’s call, which, along with Tel Aviv, initiated the war against Tehran on February 28th, without consulting or informing its NATO partners beforehand.