President Donald Trump has said that the US will significantly reduce its troop presence in Germany, escalating a dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he seeks to scale back America’s commitment to European security. The Pentagon on Friday had initially announced it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but when asked Saturday about the reason for the move, Mr Trump didn’t offer an explanation and said an even bigger reduction was coming.

He told reporters in Florida that the US is going to cut way down, and they are cutting a lot further than 5,000. Earlier, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius today said that a planned US troop reduction in Germany should push Europe to strengthen its own defences. He urged Europe to take greater responsibility for their security, noting Germany is expanding its military and infrastructure.

The US military presence in Germany began after World War II and peaked during the Cold War in the 1960s, when hundreds of thousands of American troops were stationed there to counter the Soviet Union. The US military deployment in Germany – currently at more than 36,000 active duty troops – is by far its biggest in Europe, compared with about 12,000 in Italy and 10,000 in the United Kingdom.