No plans to draw down US troops in Europe for now, Hegseth says

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said administration officials have no short-term plans to cut U.S. troop levels in Europe but are committed to reviewing American military posture worldwide to ensure that forces are prepositioned in the right regions.

During a visit to U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, on Tuesday, Hegseth told reporters that the United States is committed to having a presence in Europe, but also emphasized that the responsibility of securing the region should not fall on America alone.

“The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that defense,” he said. “That’s common sense. You defend your neighborhood, and the Americans will come alongside you in helping in that defense.”

But for now, Hegseth said, that approach does not include cutting U.S. forces in the region.

During his first term in office, President Donald Trump made several moves to reduce the American military footprint in Europe, including starting to shift thousands of troops out of Germany in response to arguments with national leaders there.

Roughly 100,000 troops are currently deployed across Europe, according to Defense Department statistics. More than one-third of that total are located in Germany.

Hegseth said U.S. presence in Europe will in part be dictated by the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, which Trump has vowed to settle. And Hegseth referenced Trump’s assertion that NATO countries should spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a threshold that America does not currently meet (the U.S. spends about 3.4%).

“America will be smart to observe, plan, prioritize and project power where we need to deter conflict,” Hegseth said. “We don’t want conflict with China. … Peace through strength is how you deter that.”

Hegseth said the force posture review would also include U.S. troop levels in Africa and other potentially contentious regions.

“[The president] has been very clear that we’re not trying to have American boots all over the globe, when we can do counterterrorism effectively over the horizon,” Hegseth said. “That’s the preference.”