Trump Says Pentagon Is Considering Withdrawing Troops From Germany Amid Spat With Chancellor

President Donald Trump said the Pentagon is considering withdrawing some troops from Germany amid a spat with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump said in a social media post.

In another publication hours later he said that Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!”

The jabs follow a claim from Merz that Iran is “humiliating” the U.S. in negotiations to end the war. He said on Monday that “Iranians are obviously very skilled ⁠at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad ​and then leave again without any result.”

Merz was making reference to developments that took place during the weekend. Namely, the Trump administration announcing it would send special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi only for the latter to leave the country before they arrived. Trump ended up cancelling the trip.

Trump has lashed out ever since, also saying this week that Merz believes “it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!” he added earlier this week.

Now, the U.S. is considering withdrawing the troops from Germany, where almost 40,000 military personnel are stationed. It is the largest deployment in the continent and where the U.S. European Command is located.

The White House declined to comment on the matter to Politico, which noted that it would be difficult to find another location to house as many troops, even if Romania and Poland said they would welcome a larger deployment.

The outlet went on to detail that the move could disrupt U.S. defense plans in the medium term, especially considering the U.S. seeks to place long-range Tomahawk missiles in the country as of next year.

Trump ordered the withdrawal of more than 10,000 troops from Germany in his first term, but Congress pushed back. The move was ultimately not completed.