President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States is reviewing a possible reduction in the number of US troops Germany hosts, with a decision due “over the next short period of time.”
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social after criticising Germany and other NATO allies for not sending naval support to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
A senior White House official had told Reuters earlier this month that Trump discussed removing some US troops from Europe.
The United States had just over 68,000 active-duty military personnel permanently assigned to overseas bases in Europe as of December 2025, according to figures from the U.S. Defence Manpower Data Centre.
More than half of them, about 36,400 troops, are based in Germany. That compares with about 250,000 US troops stationed in Germany in 1985, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
Trump has sparred in recent days with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war in Iran.
Trump said Tuesday that Merz did not know what he was talking about after the German leader said Iranians were humiliating the United States in talks to end the two-month-old war.
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Merz said Wednesday that relations with Trump remained good despite the dispute.
Germany’s top general, Carsten Breuer, met Defence Undersecretary Elbridge Colby and other US officials in Washington on Wednesday to discuss Germany’s first military strategy outside the NATO umbrella since World War II.
Breuer gave no indication that US officials discussed reducing US troops in Germany during the meeting.
