European leaders on Monday treated President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany as another reminder that military power is decided at the top and paid for below. The Pentagon said last week it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, and Trump told reporters on Saturday the U.S. plans on “cutting a lot further.” He gave no reason, blindsiding NATO and leaving allied governments scrambling to manage the consequences of a decision made far above the people who will live with it.
Who Has the Power
The move came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said the U.S. has been humiliated by Iran in talks to end the war it launched with Israel on Feb. 28. Trump has also expressed anger over European allies’ reluctance to get involved in the conflict. The language of alliance and security barely hides the reality: a handful of leaders and military institutions are deciding where force is projected, while everyone else is expected to absorb the risk.
European leaders meeting at a summit in Yerevan, Armenia, tried to downplay the impact of 5,000 fewer troops in Germany while acknowledging that the withdrawal is a useful nudge for the continent to step up its role within NATO. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, “I do not see those figures as dramatic, but I think they should be handled in a harmonious way inside the framework of NATO.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “there needs to be a stronger European element in NATO, I have no doubt about that.”
Who Pays for the Security Game
The burden is already being pushed downward. European countries and Canada have increased defense spending and military recruitment efforts over the last year in response to Trump’s threats. That means more money, more enlistment drives, and more pressure on ordinary people to bankroll and staff the machinery of war because leaders in Washington and Europe cannot keep their arrangement stable.
At a military exercise in northern Germany, the country’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said Berlin has not yet received “official confirmation of when and how this is supposed to happen, on what scale.” He said the reduction of U.S. troops “would not put into question NATO’s deterrence capability.” The statement reads like the usual ritual of reassurance from the apparatus, even as the details remain unsettled.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the timing of Trump’s announcement came as a surprise, even though there has been “talk about withdrawal of U.S. troops for a long time from Europe.” Asked whether she believes Trump is trying to punish Merz, Kallas said: “I don’t see into the head of President Trump, so he has to explain it himself.” Merz did not attend the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, which included about 30 European leaders, plus Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
What They Call Coordination
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also played down the significance of fewer U.S. troops in Germany, while acknowledging U.S. “disappointment” about the level of European support for the Iran war. France and the U.K. have given U.S. forces limited use of bases on their territories to attack Iran. Spain has outright denied U.S. forces the use of its airspace and bases. Rutte said, “I would say the Europeans have heard a message.”
European allies and Canada have known since early last year that Trump would pull some troops out of Europe, and some were pulled out of Romania in October 2025, but U.S. officials had pledged to coordinate any moves with NATO allies to avoid creating a security vacuum. NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said over the weekend that officials at the 32-nation military alliance “are working with the U.S. to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany.”
With the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran looking shakier, Rutte said European nations “have decided to pre-position assets, key assets, close to the theater for the next phase.” He provided no further details. European leaders have insisted their countries would not help police the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy trade route, until the war is over. French President Emmanuel Macron said, “If the United States is ready to reopen Hormuz, that’s great. That’s what we’ve been asking for since the beginning,” but he underlined that Europeans are not ready to get involved in any operation “that does not seem clear.”
The whole episode lays out the hierarchy in plain sight: military decisions are made by presidents, defense ministries, and alliance officials, while the public is left with recruitment campaigns, higher spending, and the fallout from wars launched and managed above their heads.