Trump planned to withdraw about 9,500 of the approximately 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany.
The German government on Friday welcomed President Joe Biden’s decision to formally stop the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany, arguing that the military station is there “for our part ”.
Last year, President Donald Trump then announced that he was going to withdraw about 9,500 of the 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, but the withdrawal never began.
Biden said Thursday that the withdrawal would be suspended until defense secretary Lloyd Austin reviews the presence of American troops around the globe.
“The German government welcomes this news,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s arguments, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin, said: “We will keep in touch with the new American administration about the plans. he has another. “
“We’ve always made sure that American military stations here in Germany serve European and transatlantic security, so it’s good for us,” Seibert said. “We greatly appreciate this decades-long close cooperation with German-based American forces.”
Asked if Germany would make any concrete offers to persuade the US not to withdraw troops, Seibert said Berlin would pursue improvements but “how these reviews turn out is an American issue. inside ”.
The U.S. has several major military facilities in Germany, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters of the U.S. European Command and the U.S. African Command, and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American military hospital outside the United States. .
Trump’s order against Congress came as well as from within the military, which has long relied on Germany as a key ally and foundation of operations.
Trump announced the military cuts after he repeatedly accused Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime “delinquent” NATO ally for failing to they spent 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, a criterion allied members have pledged to work towards.