Trump says he's pulling U.S. Troops from Germany. Does it matter?

5/4/202611 min

Trump is once again threatening NATO allies. What would a reduction of U.S. troops in Germany mean for security and the U.S. military?

Today, about 36-thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, and they’re a key part of the U.S. military ecosystem and the NATO alliance.

Now, President Trump plans to reduce that number.

Trump has grown increasingly and publicly frustrated with NATO allies.

This time he’s taking it out on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said the U.S. has been humiliated by Iran.

Among the many questions raised by this: What are U.S. troops doing in Germany anyway?

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This episode was produced by Fio Geiran, Tyler Bartlam and Karen Zamora.

It was edited by Sarah Handel and Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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Clips

First 90 seconds

Mary Louise Kelly· Host0:00
Hey there, it's Mary Louise Kelly. Real quick, before we start the show today, a reminder that we just celebrated Public Media Giving Days here at NPR, and of course, NPR is public media, nonprofit, independent, freely available to everyone. That's you. We're also supported by you, the public, including listeners like Libby in Washington, a recent NPR donor who says, "In this world full of noise, public media stands as a beacon of clarity, storytelling, and essential journalism. It's not just about radio or podcasts. It's about ensuring that everyone has access to the information they need to be engaged citizens." Well, thank you, Libby. We appreciate your support so much. Public Media Giving Days were officially on May 1st and May 2nd, but it is not too late to make your gift in support of public media. You can do that right now at donate.npr.org. Now back to the show. [gentle music] It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, the U.S. military alliance with Germany. American troops have been stationed there since the end of World War II. It is still home to the biggest U.S. military footprint in Europe. Rhein-Main Air Base, which closed in 2005, served as an important hub for treating U.S. troops during the Iraq and