Washington, April 30: President Donald Trump on Wednesday levelled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the US military presence there as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israel war against Iran.
Trump made the threat after Merz earlier this week said that the US was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington’s lack of strategy in the war. Trump has also repeatedly railed against NATO for the alliance’s refusal to assist the US in its two-month-old war.
“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 in a social media post.
Merz had said earlier Wednesday that his personal relationship with Trump remained “as good as ever,” but he had “had doubts from the very beginning about what was started there with the war in Iran.”
During his first term in the White House, Trump also moved to cut US troops in Germany because he said the country spent too little on defence.
In June 2020, Trump announced he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops who were then stationed in Germany, but the process never actually started.
Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.
The US has several major military facilities in the country, including the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre, the largest American hospital outside the United States.
Merz met with Trump at the White House in March, just days after the US and Israel began their bombardment of Iran.
At the time, Merz told Trump that Germany was eager to work with the US on a strategy for when the current Iranian government no longer exists. Merz also expressed concern that an extended conflict could do great damage to the global economy.
His concern, like many other European leaders, has only grown as the US and Iran have yet to come to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world global oil supply had flowed prior to the start of the war. It has been effectively closed since the conflict began on February 28.
Trump takes another dig at German leader
Trump on Thursday took another dig at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, asking the European leader to fix his broken country and spend less time concerning himself with the Iran war.
Trump in a social media post said Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy” and less time concerning himself with the Iran war.
The latest criticism by Trump of Merz came the day after the US president announced he was reviewing the US military presence in Germany, a NATO ally that hosts several American military installations. (AP)
