BREAKING: Trump threatens to pull U.S. troops from Germany as feud with Merz escalates over Iran war
President Trump is threatening to reduce the American military footprint in Germany, escalating a bitter personal clash with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran. The move would strip one of America’s most strategically critical NATO allies of tens of thousands of troops and upend decades of transatlantic defense cooperation.
Trump announced the review in a Truth Social post, writing that the U.S. is “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time.” The threat followed sharp comments from Merz, who said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iranian leadership and questioned whether Washington had any coherent strategy in the conflict now entering its third month.
The feud has been intensifying all week. On Tuesday, Trump falsely accused Merz of supporting Iran having a nuclear weapon and blamed Germany’s economic struggles on its chancellor. On Thursday, he told Merz to stop “interfering” with the Iran war and focus instead on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, where Trump claimed Merz had been “totally ineffective.”
Merz, for his part, has tried to keep the door open while holding his ground. Speaking to troops at a military base in Munster, he emphasized the importance of the transatlantic alliance and said Germany maintains “close and trusting contact” with its American partners. He also underscored the economic pain Germany is absorbing from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply once flowed before the war shut it down.
Analysts warn that a U.S. troop withdrawal from Germany would be a logistical disaster and a serious self-inflicted wound. Germany hosts U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base, and the largest American military hospital outside the United States. Pulling forces from those facilities would damage American power projection across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East simultaneously.
Trump attempted a similar withdrawal during his first term, announcing plans in 2020 to remove roughly 9,500 troops from Germany, though that process never got off the ground and was formally cancelled by President Biden in 2021.
With the Iran war already costing an estimated $25 billion according to Pentagon officials, and no deal in sight to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump’s threat to punish an allied democracy for expressing concern about a destabilizing conflict represents exactly the kind of reckless unilateralism that is rapidly burning through America’s remaining credibility in Europe.