<\/p>\n
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/Pool AP <\/p>\n
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n
Johan Nilsson\/Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n
Johan Nilsson\/Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n
Johan Nilsson\/Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via<\/p>\n
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Bra\u017ee speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n
Johan Nilsson\/Johan Nilsson\/TT News Agency via<\/p>\n
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) \u2014 NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment on Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after he had ordered 5,000 troops to be pulled out of Europe.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,\u201d Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
U.S. defense officials were also confused. \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
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said \u201cI am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland.\u201d He said this was due to his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.<\/p>\n
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of conflicting statements from Trump and his administration about reducing \u2014 not increasing \u2014 the American military footprint in Europe.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
NATO allies have been blindsided, despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments. \u201cWe\u2019re going to stay well-synchronized with our allies moving forward,\u201d NATO\u2019s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, promised on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move but underlined that these matters should happen in a \u201cstructured” way. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Bra\u017ee said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now. So we will see.\u201d<\/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
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Grynkewich said that \u201cseveral hundred\u201d more troops would be shifted elsewhere, without elaborating. The commander of the world’s biggest military alliance said he had huddled with defense chiefs from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland at NATO headquarters to discuss options.<\/p>\n
It all started as Trump fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had said that the U.S. was being \u201chumiliated\u201d by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in the war.<\/p>\n
Trump then told reporters that the U.S. would be \u201ccutting a lot further than 5,000.\u201d He also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent\u2019s biggest auto producer.<\/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 stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.<\/p>\n
Trump’s latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe might not be changed at all. The forces that were already rotating into Poland from Germany are likely to continue doing so. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision, and said 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’s NATO meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, was aimed at preparing for a summit of Trump and his counterparts in Turkey in July.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Cook reported from Brussels. Emma Burrows in London contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[110240,145,110239,10462,93465,17266,110241,92101,110238,23681,59373,55542,59371,59372,86159,61262,88438,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-304309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-alex-grynkewich","tag-donald-trump","tag-emma-burrows","tag-europe","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-marco-rubio","tag-maria-malmer-stenergard","tag-mark-rutte","tag-nato-trump-troops-europe-poland-confusion","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-poland","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31998-ap-online-national-news","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-radek-sikorski","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}