Trump is considering withdrawing American troops from Germany?

According to data, there are currently about 37 thousand American soldiers stationed in several dozen bases in Germany.

Most of them are at Ramstein base and its suburbs in the federal province of Porajnje-Falacka.

It's the largest American military community outside the United States, broadcasting. Periscope.

In addition, about 12,000 German civilians work for the American Army throughout Germany, also most in the province of Rheinland-Pfalz.

Since Donald Trump is the president of the United States again, there is fear that he could reduce the number of troops in Germany.

It becomes known that even during his first term, Trump threatened a partial withdrawal of American troops from Germany.

His argument was that Germany was not sharing enough funds for NATO.

“We will reduce the number of troops in Germany to 25,000”, Trump said at the time.

However, the Joe Biden administration later cancelled these plans.

Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance took a stronger tone against NATO and Germany allies during the Munich Security Conference: he criticised alleged restrictions on freedom of speech in Germany and linked it to American military presence in the country.

The entire German defense is financed by American taxpayers. ”

And Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in early February, during a visit to American troops in Stuttgart, that the new US administration was not planning a massive withdrawal of troops from Europe at the moment.

However, he stressed that the global deployment of American forces will be revised.

These rumors were further prompted by the British Telegraph, which recently reported on the supposed transfer of American troops from Germany to Hungary. These charges have not yet been confirmed.

Security Applications and Nuclear Prevention

Military expert Carlo Masala from Bundeswehr University in Munich believes the American Army's departure from Germany would also represent a “catastrophic security policy aspect”, especially to countries like Russia, because it would show that the US does not fully guarantee conventional military support for all European allies.

However, Masala believes that “is highly unlikely to have a large-scale shift of American troops, at least not soon and in the short term.

“is possible”, Masala said,” to have a gradual pull of their bodies or reseparation within Europe”.

He adds that under Trumpin, the US no longer sees itself as Europe's top “security provider”.

We will not be able to prevent Americans from being conventionally withdrawn from Europe to a large extent. ”

It is reported that American nuclear prevention and the presence of conventional troops in Europe are considered crucial for the protection of NATO European allies.

It has been estimated that about 20 American tactical nuclear heads are stationed at Buchel military base.

Germany, which does not have its own nuclear weapons, can use them in a crisis situation but only with the approval of the American president.

Recent political events in the US have raised doubts about whether Trump would be willing to approve such nuclear participation.

However, Masala does not see “no indication from the US that the nuclear umbrella is currently in question”.

But he believes Europe should be prepared for such a scenario.

It makes sense,” said Masala, “to complete the American nuclear shield with a French, because Americans are unlikely to be willing in the future to risk the destruction of New York, say, of the release of Estonia”.

The impact on German workers and continued American investments

Many Germans, civil servants of the US Army, are currently upset, as confirmed by Susanne Schafer of the Verdi trade union in Kaiserslawn.

And military expert Masala says: “The presence of American troops is, of course, an economic factor in countries where they are stored”.

Otherwise, two weeks ago, public sector employees in this city, including many working for the American Army, entered a warning strike.

They demanded higher salaries and better working conditions, while many were afraid of their jobs.

The frequency is, of course, big. Every day we get bad news. Nobody knows how things will develop,” said Jurgen Knaip.

He's a fireman employed by the U.S. Army in Kaiserslawn and he's afraid he might lose his job.

Invalid Emails

According to the union, the US Army's civil sector is currently under a ban on employment, the option to work from home has been removed and employees are getting more and more suspicious “ ”.

Ilona Lauer, a saleswoman at the Kaiserslawn Military Community Centre, said angrily: “We should list five things we did last week in an email. Absolute control! ”

Another employee, who asked to remain anonymous, added that no one knows how to react to these messages.

It's scary that something puts itself in Washington and that such an email comes tomorrow. ”

In the German town of Baumholder, threats so far have been met with a rather calm response.

Americans have been stationed there for 80 years, and about 8,000 American soldiers and members of their families live in the region.

In addition, a large number of new apartments for about 2,000 additional soldiers are currently being built at the US military base.

The US Army plans to move a special unit from Stuttgart to Baumholder and invest about a billion dollars for that purpose.

The US is currently investing significant amounts on other military bases in Porajnje-Ballacka.

A new military hospital is being built in Weilerbach, near the Ramstein base, which will become the largest American military clinic outside the US.

Municipal President Ralph Hechler (CDU) therefore sees no indication that Americans can withdraw. And even if they do, he says, it certainly wouldn't happen overnight.