WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump has decided to pull 9,500 U.S. troops out of Germany by September, a significant reduction after years of tension with Chancellor Angela Merkel over her country's military spending.
The change has been discussed within the administration since last September and reflects increases in military outlays by U.S. allies that allows a reduction in overseas troop strength, according to a person familiar with matter who asked not be identified.
Merkel's decision to stay away from a Group of Seven meeting that Trump had planned to host in Washington this month had no influence on the planned pullout, the person said.
The cut would limit American troop strength in Germany to 25,000 permanently assigned service members, compared with about 34,500 now, the person said. Historically one of America's most loyal allies, Germany is home to the biggest U.S. contingent in Europe and hosts key overseas installations such as the Ramstein Air Base and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
The planned reduction in forces was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
A White House National Security Council spokesman, John Ullyot, said that Trump "continually reassesses the best posture" for U.S. forces and their overseas presence. The U.S. is "committed to working with our strong ally Germany to ensure our mutual defense" and other matters.
Merkel and Germany have been a prime target of Trump's push to shift more defense spending to North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, which he has, in effect, accused of freeloading off U.S. military power.
In April 2019, he struck a more conciliatory tone. "We've picked up over $140 billion of additional money, and we look like we're going to have at least another $100 billion more in spending" in 2020 by NATO members, excluding the U.S., the president said at the time.
Even so, he warned Germany in December that while it was coming along on increases in defense spending, he might take action related to trade with Europe if Merkel's government didn't do more to reach NATO members' agreed goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product on their militaries.
Merkel's defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said in November that Germany wouldn't meet the NATO benchmark until 2031 because of a lack of military personnel.
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