After 18 months of Donald Trump's "America First" presidency, European leaders meeting with him next week fear the United States may change its traditional course and begin to bring American troops home from the continent.
It comes as nations, especially in Eastern Europe, are lobbying the United States to increase the number of troops on the continent as they worry about combating an increasingly aggressive Russia.
Trump has talked about bringing U.S. troops home from around the globe since he was on the campaign trail espousing a strategy he dubbed "America First” but he has yet to act.
They are scared to death," former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told McClatchy. "They are worried about a very unpredictable president of the United States. They are increasingly worried he is going to do things not based on what's in the best interest..but based solely on his vision of 'America First.' "
The Pentagon is already reviewing the impact of withdrawing some of the 35,000 active-duty American troops in Germany, the Washington Post reported last month.
The fate of American troops in Europe are not expected to be on the agenda of the Brussels meeting of NATO — the alliance formed after World War II to counter a Soviet, now Russian, threat — but will loom large, as it comes just before Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
Some worry an unpredictable Trump, at the U.S.-Russia summit, could agree to take the first steps to embolden Russia, such as halting military exercises or agreeing that Crimea, a region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014, belongs to Russia.
Magnus Nordenman, who worked as a defense analyst and a strategic planning consultant for major European defense industry companies, said European allies are "absolutely worried" after hearing Trump disparage allies of the G-7, as well as NATO members' contributions and seeing him eager to meet Putin as well as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
"There is element of uncertainty in all this," said Nordenman, now the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. "But we all need to take a bit of a breath here...and hope the president is in a good mood when he goes to Brussels."
A senior administration official with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly did not initially answer the question about possible troop withdrawals on a conference call with reporters. But when asked a second time, the official said Trump is not expected to threaten troop withdrawals in Germany or elsewhere.
Congress is likely to oppose troop withdrawals and could pass legislation to prevent Trump from using money to move the military.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article214324579.html
It comes as nations, especially in Eastern Europe, are lobbying the United States to increase the number of troops on the continent as they worry about combating an increasingly aggressive Russia.
Trump has talked about bringing U.S. troops home from around the globe since he was on the campaign trail espousing a strategy he dubbed "America First” but he has yet to act.
They are scared to death," former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told McClatchy. "They are worried about a very unpredictable president of the United States. They are increasingly worried he is going to do things not based on what's in the best interest..but based solely on his vision of 'America First.' "
The Pentagon is already reviewing the impact of withdrawing some of the 35,000 active-duty American troops in Germany, the Washington Post reported last month.
The fate of American troops in Europe are not expected to be on the agenda of the Brussels meeting of NATO — the alliance formed after World War II to counter a Soviet, now Russian, threat — but will loom large, as it comes just before Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
Some worry an unpredictable Trump, at the U.S.-Russia summit, could agree to take the first steps to embolden Russia, such as halting military exercises or agreeing that Crimea, a region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014, belongs to Russia.
Magnus Nordenman, who worked as a defense analyst and a strategic planning consultant for major European defense industry companies, said European allies are "absolutely worried" after hearing Trump disparage allies of the G-7, as well as NATO members' contributions and seeing him eager to meet Putin as well as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
"There is element of uncertainty in all this," said Nordenman, now the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. "But we all need to take a bit of a breath here...and hope the president is in a good mood when he goes to Brussels."
A senior administration official with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly did not initially answer the question about possible troop withdrawals on a conference call with reporters. But when asked a second time, the official said Trump is not expected to threaten troop withdrawals in Germany or elsewhere.
Congress is likely to oppose troop withdrawals and could pass legislation to prevent Trump from using money to move the military.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article214324579.html
