GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin, May 21, 2026. Donald Trump's announcement, made on Thursday on Truth Social, to send 5,000 additional soldiers to Poland comes at a very precise time for Germany: about three weeks ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 US military personnel stationed on German soil. The link between these two decisions, never explicitly established by Washington, is highlighted by several Polish officials and German press.

Trump justified his decision by his personal relationships with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, elected in 2025 with his public support. The Republican leader had received Nawrocki at the White House before his victory, saying he was 'proudly' behind the conservative candidate. This logic of political affinities, where proximity to European nationalist right-wing parties dictates American military geography, raises questions in Berlin as much as it redefines the contours of US engagement on the continent.

Because the withdrawal of troops from Germany was announced in the wake of criticism from Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Iran — a sequence that ZEIT Online directly relates to Hegseth's decision. The 5,000 soldiers leaving Germany do not disappear: they are reorganized in Europe, with Poland as a probable destination. Polish Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk had himself written on X: 'This announcement concerns Germany. It does not concern Poland.'

In mid-May, approximately 7,400 US soldiers were already present in Poland, most in rotation between different European bases. Warsaw had to deny, the previous week, reports from the Wall Street Journal citing a Pentagon official that Washington had suspended the deployment of a combat brigade of over 4,000 soldiers planned for a nine-month deployment. 'Poland is continuously striving to strengthen the presence of American troops,' Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz had then stated — before Trump validated, a few hours later, a reinforcement via social networks.

For Germany, the equation is uncomfortable. Berlin can only note that the rhetoric of 'American disengagement in Europe' translates into reality as selective disengagement: it penalizes critical allies and rewards acquired allies. Trump did not specify when or where these 5,000 soldiers would be deployed — a vagueness that leaves European capitals uncertain about the new American military map of the continent.