US to cut troop levels in Germany by 5,000 — BBC News

[0:00] The United States says it will withdraw 5,000 of its troops from Germany as a rift widens between [0:06] the two countries. The Pentagon said the troops would be removed over the next six to 12 months. [0:13] The decision comes amid President Trump's spat with the German leader, Chancellor Mertz, [0:17] and a day after Mr Trump called Mr Mertz and said he was doing a terrible job. He also criticized [0:24] Germany and other NATO allies for not sending forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz. [0:30] Earlier this week, Friedrich Mertz suggested the U.S. had been humiliated by Iranian negotiators. [0:37] The U.S. has a significant military presence in Germany, with more than 36,000 active duty troops [0:45] assigned to bases across the country as of last December. [0:49] And North America correspondent Peter Bowes explained why we're hearing this news now. [0:54] A couple of days ago, when the President was speculating about this, suggesting that there [0:59] would be a review and an announcement made in due course, the reports in this city were that the [1:05] Defence Department was taken by surprise, some would say shocked, by what they were reading. [1:11] Now, just a couple of days later, the Pentagon is announcing that 5,000 troops are to be withdrawn [1:18] from Germany. As you say, about 36,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, the most of any country [1:25] in Europe. So that is a significant number. And the backdrop, of course, is that spot that you referred [1:31] to between the German Chancellor and President Trump and the disagreements that they have over the war. [1:37] The reservations of the Chancellor really go back to the beginning of the war, when he was warning then [1:43] of the economic implications of this war. But his language has become much more critical in recent [1:49] days, suggesting that Washington was being humiliated by Tehran and also criticising Washington's [1:57] strategy over the war, which does seem to have got under the President Trump's skin. [2:02] And of course, President Trump, not only not happy with Germany, but he's also hit out at other NATO [2:09] allies like Spain and Italy. I suppose they'll be watching carefully now. [2:13] Exactly. He's talked about Italy and Spain. We know that he's been critical in general terms [2:20] over their support or lack of support, as he sees it, for the war in Iran. But he was asked directly [2:26] whether he would consider withdrawing troops from those countries. He hasn't made any decision on that, [2:31] but was clearly open to the possibility. And if this were to be a wider thing in terms of withdrawing [2:38] American troops from European countries, I think there would be severe concern across Europe about [2:45] America's commitment and resolve in terms of its role in NATO. NATO, of course, strongly criticised [2:52] over a number of years by this President, but most recently in relation to the war in Iran. [2:57] And of course, on the war in Iran, President Trump has to make a decision about what to do next. [3:04] And he hasn't made that decision. If he has, he isn't telling us about it. He's been asked on a [3:09] number of occasions directly, will he start the bombing again? And his response is always, [3:13] well, why would I tell you that? He's clearly keeping his options open. He appears to have seen the [3:20] latest proposal from Iran. We don't know the details of that proposal, which was sent to [3:26] Dimitris in Pakistan. But it's obvious that President Trump has seen something. And he says [3:31] he doesn't like what he has seen. And once again, he's been criticising Iran for its leadership. He [3:38] doesn't seem to know who he is dealing with. He says that is one of the major issues and is being [3:45] particularly vague about what his next move will be. Peter Bose reporting from Washington. [3:50] Well, Daniel Triesman is a professor of political science at the University of California and [3:55] co-director of UCLA's Centre for European and Russian Studies. He told us why he thinks the US [4:02] is cutting troops in Germany now. Trump has been talking for some time about reducing [4:07] US troops in Europe. It fits in with his general strategy of trying to pressure Europe to pay for [4:19] more of its own defence and supply more of its own munitions and personnel. But it clearly happened [4:30] in the midst of this disagreement, this tension between President Trump and [4:37] and Chancellor Mertz. And clearly, the comments of Chancellor Mertz recently didn't help this at [4:46] all. So I think it was triggered by the comments of the German Chancellor, but fits into a broader [4:55] strategy that has been building in the background for some time. Yeah, so how do you think it will go [5:01] down in Germany and the wider Europe? Would you think they would have expected something like this? [5:08] I think they would have feared it. This sort of thing was clearly coming. And European countries have [5:15] been at least starting to invest more in their own defence to outline significant plans. They've agreed to [5:23] spend 5% of GDP on defence, broadly construed, including 1.5% for infrastructure. But this is happening [5:35] perhaps faster than people anticipated. And it really sends a terrible signal at this moment when [5:42] the eastern boundaries of NATO are really in an uncertain state. It's not clear just how strong the [5:51] defences are against potential hybrid or even more aggressive attacks coming from Russia.