US President Donald Trump has said the United States will soon decide whether to cut its troops in Germany, where it has a large military presence.
“The United States is studying and reviewing a possible reduction of troops in Germany, which will be carried out in the next short period of time,” Trump posted on his Truth social platform on Wednesday afternoon Washington time.
The US has more troops in Germany than anywhere else in Europe.
According to the US Defense Manpower Data Center, there were more than 36,000 active service members deployed to Germany as of December 2025.
This includes personnel from Ramstein in southwestern Germany, considered America’s largest overseas Air Force base.
After Germany, which is home to five of the seven US troops in Europe, the United Kingdom and Italy have the largest presence of US personnel on the continent.
war of words
Over the past months, news outlets have reported on rumors of a possible withdrawal of US forces from Germany.
However, Trump’s Truth Social post comes just days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being ‘humiliated’ by Iran’s leadership.
“The Iranians are clearly very adept at negotiating, or rather, very adept at not negotiating,” Merz said on Monday, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave without any consequences.
“The entire country is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope this ends as quickly as possible.”
Edited by: Zack Crellin