A brewing diplomatic spat between US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has taken a sharp new turn, with Trump announcing he is actively evaluating a major drawdown of the thousands of American military personnel permanently stationed across Germany. The development comes just days after Merz publicly lambasted Trump’s handling of ongoing tensions surrounding the Iran war, claiming the United States had suffered a public humiliation at the hands of Iranian negotiators.
In a public post shared to his Truth Social platform, Trump confirmed that his administration is “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time.” As of last December, the US maintains a substantial military footprint in Germany, with more than 36,000 active-duty service members deployed to bases distributed across the European nation. The BBC has formally contacted the White House to request additional comment on the potential drawdown, and no further details have been released as of press time.
Merz first made his critical remarks during an address to university students in the German city of Marsberg this Monday. During the talk, he argued that “the Americans clearly have no strategy” for managing negotiations with Iran. He went on to frame recent diplomatic talks as a demonstration of Iranian negotiating skill, noting “the Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result.” Merz finished his criticism by claiming the entire United States had been “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership.
The day following Merz’s remarks, Trump took to Truth Social to push back hard against the German chancellor. In his post, Trump claimed Merz believed it was acceptable for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and argued the chancellor “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He went on to lash out at Germany’s broader standing, writing “No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!”
When asked to respond to Trump’s social media attack during a Wednesday press conference, Merz sought to downplay tensions, telling reporters that “the personal relationship between the American president and myself remains just as good as before.” As of Thursday, the German chancellor has not issued any public comment on Trump’s new announcement that he is considering troop reductions.
This latest exchange comes amid a months-long pattern of aggressive rhetoric from Trump toward US alliances, particularly the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Over the past two months, the US president has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the United States from the 32-member transatlantic alliance, dismissing NATO as a “paper tiger” and claiming the partnership is a “one-way street” that benefits European nations at American expense.
Earlier in April, a leaked internal Pentagon email laid out potential punitive measures the US could take against allies that refused to back its military and diplomatic campaign in Iran. One of the most controversial proposals outlined in the document suggested the US could push to suspend Spain from NATO over its public opposition to the Iran campaign. In response to the leak, a NATO spokesperson told the BBC that the alliance’s founding charter “does not foresee any provision for suspension of Nato membership, or expulsion”, making any such suspension legally impossible under the bloc’s current rules.