US withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, US officials say

The United States is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany.

The Pentagon announced the decision Friday as a rift over the Iran war widens between President Trump and Europe.

A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric has been “inappropriate and unhelpful.”

“The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks,” the official said.

Trump had threatened the drawdown after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz publicly stated the Iranians were humiliating the United States in talks to end the two-month-old conflict.

The withdrawal is expected to be completed over the next six to twelve months. It will return U.S. troop levels in Europe to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a major buildup.

A brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out. A long-range fires battalion the Biden administration had planned to deploy later this year will no longer deploy.

Germany remains the U.S. military’s largest basing location in Europe, with some 35,000 active-duty personnel, and serves as a key training hub.

Trump has singled out Germany even as he has harshly criticized other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon official added that the president has been very clear about his frustrations with allies’ rhetoric and failure to provide support for U.S. operations that benefit them.