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\n A member of the United States military holds up a \u2018Make America Great Again\u2019 hat as United States president Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet members of the US military during a stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, on December 27, 2018. | File photo
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President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on Washington\u2019s decision to withdraw 5,000 United States troops from Germany, as a rift in transatlantic ties deepens over the Middle East war.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon announced the 5,000-troop reduction on Friday, but Trump told reporters Saturday \u2018we\u2019re going to cut way down, and we\u2019re cutting a lot further than 5,000.\u2019 He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
The move follows a spat between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday that Iran was \u2018humiliating\u2019 Washington at the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Friday the withdrawal was expected \u2018to be completed over the next six to twelve months.\u2019<\/p>\n
NATO said it was \u2018working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018This adjustment underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defense and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security,\u2019 NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart wrote on X.<\/p>\n
There were 36,436 active-duty US troops in NATO ally Germany as of December 31, 2025, compared to 12,662 in Italy and 3,814 in Spain.<\/p>\n
German defense minister Boris Pistorius said Saturday the US troop withdrawal \u2018from Europe and also from Germany was to be expected.\u2019<\/p>\n
It also came as Trump announced that tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union would jump from 15 per cent to 25 per cent next week, accusing the bloc of failing to comply with a trade deal signed last summer.<\/p>\n
The decision to reduce the number of troops in Germany is being met with skepticism by top Republican lawmakers who oversee US military policy.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement Saturday, Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, chairs of the Armed Services Committees in their respective chambers, warned that the move risks \u2018sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.\u2019<\/p>\n
Even though European allies are boosting defense spending, \u2018translating that investment into the military capability needed to assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence will take time,\u2019 they said.<\/p>\n
The duo noted that Germany had heeded Trump\u2019s calls for greater spending on defense and that it had allowed American planes to use German bases and airspace during the ongoing conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n
Trump has threatened to slash US troop numbers in Germany and other European allies during both his White House terms, saying he wants Europe to take on greater responsibility for its defense rather than depending on Washington.<\/p>\n
He now appears determined to punish allies who have failed to back the Middle East war or contribute to a peacekeeping force in the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway, which Tehran\u2019s forces have effectively closed.<\/p>\n
Trump said on Thursday he might pull US troops from Italy and Spain due to their opposition to the Iran war.<\/p>\n
\u2018Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible,\u2019 he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u2018Yeah, probably, I probably will. Why shouldn\u2019t I?\u2019 Trump said.<\/p>\n
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday that Berlin was \u2018prepared\u2019 for a reduction in US troops and \u2018discussing it closely and in a spirit of trust in all NATO bodies.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, Wadephul said large American bases in Germany are \u2018not up for discussion at all\u2019 and cited the example of Ramstein Air Base, which he said has \u2018an irreplaceable function for the United States and for us alike.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A member of the United States military holds up a \u2018Make America Great Again\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,116784,116783,116781,116778,116780,116777,116782,116779,116775,3,116776,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-620547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-bangla-online-news","tag-bangladesh-latest-news","tag-bangladesh-news","tag-bangladesh-newspaper","tag-bangladeshi-newspapers","tag-daily-new-age","tag-latest-bangladesh-news","tag-most-popular-outspoken-english-daily-newpaper-in-bangladesh","tag-new-age","tag-news","tag-the-new-age","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}