U.S. Plans to Withdraw About 12,000 Troops From Germany
- More than half will return to the U.S.; process to take years
- Trump says ‘we don’t want to be the suckers’ for Germany
Photographer: Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images
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The U.S. announced plans to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany, a shift that Defense Secretary Mark Esper said would bolster NATO and deter Russia but President Donald Trump signaled was largely about punishing Germany as a defense deadbeat.
Esper said Wednesday that about 5,600 troops would be redeployed to other nations in Europe, including Italy and Belgium, while 6,400 would return to the U.S. Even as Esper was pitching the strategic benefits of the shift at the Pentagon, Trump was at the White House undercutting the military’s case.