German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the country expects NATO and cooperation with the United States to continue even after President Trump's decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from the country and stop the deployment of Tomahawk missiles.
Friedrich Merz stated this at a press conference in Portugal, Reuters reports.
Merz said the main issue is not troop numbers but “unity of purpose,” and that it is in the US interest to have a strong European component of NATO.
“We are still interested, and very interested, in having the American army and the American military on our side. So that's what unites us, and we're trying to achieve that now. We really want to keep this alliance going into the future,” Merz said.
He also reported that European countries also aim to “stop” Iran from producing nuclear weapons, although they did not join the war that the United States started against Iran.
“We know that there are some differences. We know that we all face difficulties, but our ultimate goal is to bring this conflict to an end and ensure that Iran cannot produce nuclear weapons,” said Friedrich Merz.
Withdrawal of part of American troops from Germany
On April 30, 2026, US President Donald Trump, amid disputes with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war in Iran, announced that his administration was considering reducing the number of troops on German territory.
On May 1, Pentagon representatives announced that they would be redeploying five thousand of their military personnel from Germany.
In addition, the changes will affect the battalion of long-range missile systems, which the former White House leadership planned to deploy in Germany at the end of 2026.
Germany is the center of the US military presence in Europe. Approximately 36,000 soldiers are based there. In total, there are 85,000 American troops in Europe.
In May 2025, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker stated that Washington intends to begin discussions with European allies on a bloc to reduce the number of US troops in Europe.
On May 4, Friedrich Merz announced that the United States would not deploy a battalion of its troops with long-range Tomahawk missiles in Germany.