Trump’s US Troops Withdrawal from Germany Coming to Fruition

Ire in Germany, glee in Baltics

US officials stressed that only a relatively small number of advanced units would move anytime soon.

The rest of the troop movements would take years to fully implement, in part given the potentially billions of dollars in additional cost.

Still, the moves out of Germany represent a remarkable rebuke to one of the closest US military allies and trading partners.

Two beneficiaries, Italy and Belgium, are low-spending alliance members, according to NATO data.

Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee and an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the troop withdrawal from Germany "will weaken the (NATO) alliance."

But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg struck an upbeat tone in a statement, saying allies had been briefed by the United States.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told Reuters that his country was ready to accept more American soldiers.

"I value very favorably the news that the US mentioned the possibility of moving some troops to the Baltic countries," Gitanas said.

US Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who has been critical of Trump, said the plan to remove troops from Germany was a "grave error."

"It is a slap in the face at a friend and ally," Mitt Romney said in a statement.

If he is elected president in November, Democrat Joe Biden will review the Republican incumbent's decision to withdraw the troops from Germany, a top Joe Biden aide told Reuters earlier this month.

Since World War Two, the US Military has considered Germany to be one of its most strategic locations overseas.

The EU member-state also serves as a critical logistics hub for troop movements not just within Europe, but to the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, however, the number of US troops in Germany has been steadily reduced from some 200,000.

(Writers: Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali | Editors: Chris Reese, Jonathan Oatis, Lisa Shumaker)

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-germany-military/u-s-to-withdraw-about-12000-troops-from-germany-but-nearly-half-to-stay-in-europe-idUSKCN24U20L