Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was forced to backtrack on bombshell plans to pull additional U.S. troops from Europe after a fellow Trump goon shut down the idea.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the former Fox & Friends Weekend host, 46, was planning to announce further cuts to Washington’s forces in Europe during a meeting of NATO’s top military officials in Brussels last month.
Under the proposal, the Trump administration would reduce the American contingent in Europe beyond the canceled deployment of an armored brigade to Poland and the withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Trump administration has been moving to reduce its military presence in Europe, with President Donald Trump, 80, pushing for members of the NATO military alliance to ramp up defense spending to 5 percent of their GDP—up from a target of 2 percent set in 2014 that the majority of member states, including Washington, still fail to meet.
Hegseth shelved the plans after they were shared with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials. The defense secretary instead announced a force posture in Europe that could last for up to six months, the Journal’s sources said.
The development follows the Trump administration’s May announcement that it would pull 5,000 U.S. troops from Europe.
“The incident suggests the administration isn’t yet settled on the pace and scope of potential cuts in U.S. troop levels in Europe,” the Journal reported.
Some 68,000 U.S. troops are currently deployed in Europe, according to the D.C.-based think tank Hudson Institute, which notes that this figure typically ranges from about 80,000 to 100,000 personnel depending on operational requirements and deployments.
This figure is roughly 86 percent lower than the number of U.S. troops in Europe at the peak of the Cold War, the Hudson Institute notes.
“With Russia continuing its war against Ukraine and threatening the stability of Europe, US forces are needed on the continent more than ever. Keeping these troops in Europe is, first and foremost, in America’s national interest,” the think tank argued.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon and the White House for comment.
