House Republicans Oppose Trump’s Troop Cuts in Germany

Top officials weren't told about plan ahead of announcement

Last week’s announcement of plans to withdraw 9,500 US troops from Germany was a surprise to many. It’s still a surprise to German officials, who say the US has yet to contact them and tell them about it. Top US security officials similarly say they weren’t told about the matter at all before it was announced.

This makes the decision and the timing of the announcement curious. While Trump is known to have problems with Germany, and to want to cut troops to spite NATO, it’s strange that he did it suddenly without either telling Germany or his own team.

While the cuts didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, they’re also not popular choices. A number of House Republicans have issued a letter saying they are “very concerned” about the cuts, saying they want to strengthen the US in Europe to confront Russia.

US troops have been in Germany for decades, always supposedly to confront Russia. With that justification, any cuts are going to be attacked, and the expectation would be a build-up going forward.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.