Before his return to the White House, in January 2025, Donald Trump had foreshadowed his approach to transatlantic relations.
At the Munich Security Conference (February 2025), the US vice-president J.D. Vance stressed that Washington expected Brussels “to vigorously step up its defence efforts.”
The line was clear. The Europe (as EU and as a continent as a whole) ought to cover its own defence capability both operationally and financially, without counting – at least not as much as before – on the other side of the Atlantic.
In this light, Mr Trump’s threat to withdraw US troops from Germany, as well as from Spain and Italy, is expected action. At least that’s how German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius described it.
What may have surprised the Europeans is the speed and the occasion. The dynamics of events seem likely to act as an accelerator to strengthen and complete the still embryonic European defence project. “We Europeans must take responsibility for our own security,” said Pistorius, adding that the US announcement “makes it clear that NATO must become European“.
The catalyst was the war in Iran. Spain and Italy have not allowed Washington to use their air bases for operations in the Middle East, creating difference. In particular for Spain and its prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who has strongly and publicly criticized the US, it was being considered – according to Reuters – to be expelled from the alliance as punishment.
In the German case, the situation played out differently. Friedrich Murch, attempting to keep the Berlin-Washington relationship on good terms, allowed the US to use the Ramstein air base.At the time, and as domestic pressure mounted, the chancellor became critical.
Merch’s criticism culminated when he spoke of “humiliation” of the US by Iran and assessed that Washington had entered the war “without any strategy whatsoever”. These statements provoked a strong reaction from Donald Trump, who, in addition to threatening to withdraw US troops from Germany, attacked the German chancellor personally. He advised him to “fix his broken country, especially on immigration”and to spend more time on ending the RussoUkrainian war, which he called “ineffective”rather than criticizing “those who are getting rid of Iran’s nuclear threat.”
Finally, last Friday the Pentagon announced that over 12 months it would have withdrawn about 5,000 troops from Germany. The following day, President Trump said that “possibly” even more troops would be withdrawn,while saying he was considering the same scenario for Spain and Italy.
In addition, he announced new 25% tariffs on imported cars and trucks from Europe,an action that is directly against Germany, which is the center of the European auto industry and notably with the largest volume of vehicle exports to the U.S.
The president’s announcements even worried Republicans. Roger Wicker and Mike D. Rogers, chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services committees respectively, both Republicans, noted that prematurely reducing the U.S. forward presence in Europe “before the military capabilities of NATO allies are fully realized risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong message to Vladimir Putin.”
The Pentagon has argued that the withdrawal of US troops from Germany would restore the US military presence in Europe to the level it was at before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
About half of the US troops deployed in Europe are in Germany (36,000), which hosts five of the nine US military garrisons on the continent. Still, one of the best-known and most important overseas U.S. bases, Ramstein Air Base, is located on German soil. It is a NATO facility with forces from Germany, Britain, Canada, France and 21 other members of the alliance.
During the Cold War, West Germany was considered the first line of defense against the then-Soviet Union. Today, with Germany now unified, the geography of European defence has shifted further east, especially after the war in Ukraine. The front line against Russia is Poland and the eastern wing of NATO in general. The difference is that this time the US seems to be moving away from the equation.
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