Trump says the US is reviewing a potential reduction of its troops in Germany
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump, who has criticized Germany and other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, said on Wednesday his administration is looking at reducing the number of US troops in Germany.
“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump said on Truth Social. A senior White House official had told Reuters earlier this month that Trump had discussed the possibility of removing some US troops from Europe.
The US had just over 68,000 active-duty military personnel assigned permanently in its overseas bases in Europe as of December 2025, data from the US Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) shows.
More than half — about 36,400 — are based in Germany. That is a fraction of the 250,000 US troops that were based there in 1985, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
