U.S. soldiers assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment conduct a convoy during an exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, in January 2023. President Donald Trump aims to redeploy 20,000 American troops from Europe, Italy's leading news agency said Jan. 23, 2025. It’s unclear what units would be targeted for cuts. (Micah Wilson/U.S. Army)
President Donald Trump wants to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe and demand a subsidy from allies to pay for the remaining American military presence on the Continent, Italy’s leading news agency reported this week.
On Thursday, ANSA said Trump has been delivering his troop-cut message to European leaders since taking office Monday.
Trump “would like financial contributions from European countries because these soldiers are a deterrent, and the costs cannot be borne solely by American taxpayers,” a European diplomat told the news service.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond Friday to questions about the report.
Trump has long advocated for a smaller force in Europe, especially in Germany. At the end of his first term, he ordered 12,000 troops out of Germany, with some to be relocated to other areas in Europe and others back to the U.S.
American M1A2 Abrams tanks take up strategic positions during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, in 2020. President Donald Trump wants to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe, according to an Italian news agency report. (Gregory Stevens/U.S. Army National Guard)
The plan was never put into effect and was later canceled by former President Joe Biden. However, Trump’s new Pentagon team has made clear that the U.S. needs to play a smaller military role in Europe and shift capabilities to the Pacific to counter a growing threat from China.
The U.S. has about 65,000 troops permanently stationed in Europe and thousands more there on a rotational basis. Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the overall force level has been in the range of 100,000 troops.
It’s unclear what units would be targeted for cuts, but the rotation of tank brigades to NATO’s eastern flank, a linchpin of allied deterrence since the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine, could be in Trump’s crosshairs.
Newly installed defense officials have previously indicated that such rotations could be an area where the Pentagon could achieve savings.
Other potential targets are assets that would be of value in deterring China in the Pacific, such as warships, long-range artillery and Patriot missile defense units.
On Thursday, Trump told an audience of global leaders gathered at an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the current NATO threshold of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense is insufficient.
“I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago,” Trump said, speaking virtually from Washington.
Trump didn’t directly say the 5% standard would apply to the United States. Washington would have to significantly boost its own defense spending to hit the 5% mark.
Currently, the U.S. spends about 3.4% of GDP on the defense budget. Going to 5% would push the Pentagon budget of roughly $842 billion to more than $1 trillion.
