Trump’s Plan to Pull U.S. Troops from Germany Irks Merkel Government and the Media
Under Merkel, Germany has never met its NATO commitment of (IIRC) spending at least 2% of its GDP on defense.
I'm reasonably sure the Germany has never met its commitment, but if it did, it wasn't often. They have periodically pledgedthat they will eventually meet the goal in... a few years... but no.
Trump has hammered them and the rest of NATO about this ever since he got in office 3 years ago. US pays 70% of NATO budget, and we host and train thousands of their troops every year.
He has not been at all shy or obtuse about telling them to step us or else.
Richard Grenell also told them repeatedly to step up.
So Trump announces he will pull 9500 US troops out of Germany by September, and:
[FONT=&]“This is completely unacceptable, especially since nobody in Washington thought about informing its NATO ally Germany in advance,”[/FONT][FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&]... U.S. president “a hopeless case.”
[/FONT][FONT=&]“A cooperative partnership is apparently impossible and not desired by him.”[/FONT][FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&] “The Alliance Breaker in the White House.”
And of course WaPo and NYT chime in. lol.
Bigger LOL:
Poland has volunteered to host the troops being moved.
[/FONT]
Under Merkel, Germany has never met its NATO commitment of (IIRC) spending at least 2% of its GDP on defense.
I'm reasonably sure the Germany has never met its commitment, but if it did, it wasn't often. They have periodically pledgedthat they will eventually meet the goal in... a few years... but no.
Trump has hammered them and the rest of NATO about this ever since he got in office 3 years ago. US pays 70% of NATO budget, and we host and train thousands of their troops every year.
He has not been at all shy or obtuse about telling them to step us or else.
Richard Grenell also told them repeatedly to step up.
So Trump announces he will pull 9500 US troops out of Germany by September, and:
[FONT=&]“This is completely unacceptable, especially since nobody in Washington thought about informing its NATO ally Germany in advance,”[/FONT][FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&]... U.S. president “a hopeless case.”
[/FONT][FONT=&]“A cooperative partnership is apparently impossible and not desired by him.”[/FONT][FONT=&]
[/FONT][FONT=&] “The Alliance Breaker in the White House.”
And of course WaPo and NYT chime in. lol.
Bigger LOL:
Poland has volunteered to host the troops being moved.
[/FONT]