Rubio Downplays Germany Troop Pullout as 'Pre-Programmed'
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- Marco Rubio downplayed the Pentagon's announcement last week to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany, telling reporters in Rome the move was 'already ongoing' and 'pre-programmed' to return US troop levels to where they were in 2022.
- Rubio said the 5,000 troops represent less than 14% of total US troop presence in Germany and described the shift as part of an 'always' planned 'shifting within NATO.'
- Rubio left the door open to further reductions, saying Trump 'hasn't made those decisions yet' but that the US displeasure with some NATO members' support for the Iran war 'has to be examined.'
- Rubio met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday in Rome; a State Department readout said they discussed 'the importance of continued transatlantic collaboration,' while Meloni called it 'a frank dialogue between allies who defend their own national interests.'
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a target of Trump's anger over comments on the Iran war, has similarly tried to downplay the troop withdrawal as European officials eye the move with concern about US reliability.
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stressed allies' work supporting freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, but those efforts have 'seemingly had little impact' on Trump's anger toward the alliance.
- Rubio, as a senator, cosponsored the law to stop a president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO — a record now sitting in tension with his role explaining away Trump's troop cuts.
Why it matters: Rubio's 'routine logistics' framing doesn't resolve the underlying uncertainty: Trump still hasn't decided on further troop cuts, his anger at NATO over the Iran war remains unabated, and European allies are explicitly 'in the dark' about what comes next — putting roughly 5,000 more US service members and the credibility of the US commitment to Europe in limbo.
