U.S. plans to pull 5,000 troops from Germany, NATO seeks details

Germany’s role as the central American military platform in Europe is about to shrink, and the effect will be felt far beyond the barracks. The Pentagon is planning to withdraw about 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next six to 12 months, a move NATO said it was working to understand as it weighs the consequences for alliance deterrence and logistics.

The drawdown would leave U.S. force levels in Germany roughly back at pre-2022 levels, after the Biden administration boosted the American presence in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany already hosts the largest U.S. troop presence on the continent, with roughly 35,000 to 38,000 active-duty personnel plus reservists and civilians. Cutting that footprint would not just reduce head count. It would trim the depth of the American command structure in a country that has anchored U.S. operations since the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War.

The reduction is expected to hit one brigade combat team and a long-range fires battalion. It also raises questions about the broader architecture that makes Germany indispensable to NATO operations. U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command are based there, while Ramstein Air Base serves as a major hub for operations and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center remains the largest U.S. hospital abroad. Moving those forces out of Germany, even partly, would test how quickly the United States can move personnel, equipment and medical support across Europe in a crisis.

The plan also lands in the middle of a fresh political clash between Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump publicly threatened to reduce troops in Germany after Merz said the Americans were being humiliated by Iran and lacked a convincing strategy in the U.S. war against Iran. Trump previously ordered a reduction of about 9,500 troops from Germany in 2020, but Joe Biden froze that plan in 2021. The new proposal, officials said, fits the Pentagon’s broader focus on the homeland and the Indo-Pacific, but it also carries the look of a tactical rebuke at a moment of strained transatlantic politics.

For Washington, the stakes go beyond symbolism. Current reporting says lawmakers may resist another drawdown because it could complicate NATO deterrence and disrupt plans to place long-range Tomahawk missiles in Germany by next year. Germany has also signaled that it is prepared to spend more on defense, aiming to raise military outlays to 3.7 percent of GDP by 2030, but that does not replace the political weight of a reduced American presence. If the cuts go through, they would signal not only a recalibration of troop posture, but a deeper question about how far the United States wants to anchor its security commitments in Europe.