London — America’s NATO allies were left scratching their heads Friday after President Trump announced a deployment of U.S. forces to Poland, reversing a decision to cancel the plan, with one European foreign minister calling the administration’s messaging “confusing indeed.”
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post he was “pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland.”
It wasn’t clear whether the troops would be based in the country permanently or on a rotational basis.
His statement came two days after Vice President JD Vance defended a previously announced decision to cancel the planned deployment of 4,000 forces to Poland, saying the country “is capable of defending itself with a lot of support from the United States.”
Vance accused the media of “overreacting” to “a very minor thing.”
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At a meeting Friday in Sweden of NATO foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, European leaders welcomed Mr. Trump’s announcement, but some acknowledged difficulty in keeping pace with the messaging from Washington amid tension between the allies. Mr. Trump and his cabinet have bashed NATO members for refusing to join the offensive operations against Iran launched by the U.S. and Israel almost three months ago.
“All’s well that ends well,” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Friday.
His Swedish counterpart, Maria Malmer Stenergard, was more blunt, telling reporters the U.S. position on joint defense under the nearly eighty 80-year old transatlantic alliance, “is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate.”
“Maybe social media negotiation is not the best thing,” she added.
NATO leaders are set to meet again next week for a summit in Ankara, Turkey, but European allies were likely to push Rubio for clarity on the changing U.S. stance on troop deployments as they meet Friday in Sweden.
Rubio is expected to speak at the meeting later Friday and to address the deployment of U.S. forces in the region.
He said Friday that any reduction in U.S. troop deployments was “not a punitive thing,” but added that Mr. Trump’s “views — frankly disappointment — at some of our NATO allies and their response to our operations in the Middle East … will have to be addressed.”
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He added that the issue “won’t be solved or addressed today,” and said that, as with any alliance, “it has to be good for everyone who’s involved.”
Europeans “have heard the message”
Mr. Trump announced the surprise deployment to Poland about three weeks after he said the U.S. was “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany,” following a public fallout with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said the president had been “humiliated” by Iranian negotiators.
Senior U.S. defense officials told CBS News the following day that the Pentagon was planning to withdraw about 5,000 American forces from Germany.
Mr. Trump has also said he’s considering pulling the U.S. out of the alliance that it helped to found in the wake of World War II, and after his administration pushed for the takeover of Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, earlier this year.
Under intense pressure from the White House, some NATO allies have scrambled to show they are increasing spending on their defense. Last year, for the first time, a European ally – Norway – spent more per capita than the U.S. on its military, according to the Atlantic Council.
At next week’s summit in Ankara, European leaders will be keen to demonstrate they have made good on promises to increase spending and assume more of the burden of defending the continent.
A slew of arms deals are being lined up to make that case to the president, diplomats told the AFP news agency this week. Some NATO allies, led by France and Britain, have already sent warships to the region to take part in an international operation to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but that mission is still being nailed down, and the Europeans have made it clear they will only start after hostilities end.
Still, European “allies have heard the message” from Washington, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said recently.
A chance “to Europeanize NATO”?
NATO ministers still expect U.S. force drawdowns on the continent as the Trump administration pursues its “America First” agenda.
“What is important is that it happens in a structured manner,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Friday in Sweden. “So that Europe is able to build up when the U.S. reduces its presence.”
“As the U.S. reevaluates its level of engagement and presence in Europe within the alliance, it is exactly the opportunity … to Europeanize NATO,” said France’s top diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot.
The continent’s collective will and defense capacity has been tested by Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Rutte has pushed European nations to buy more weaponry from the U.S. to give to Kyiv.
Officials in Washington have accused NATO partners including France, Spain and Italy of shirking their responsibilities when it comes to defense spending.
“What I want to achieve is that the burden is more evenly spread, that there is more burden sharing here,” Rutte said. “At the moment, it is only six or seven allies who are doing the heavy lifting.”
But there’s no doubt Europe would prefer to keep the U.S. onside.
Ahead of a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government was “trying to obtain information and to influence the decisions of our American allies.”
Washington “must understand how important close and very well coordinated cooperation is from the point of view of the security of Poland, Europe, the United States and the global order, including the presence of American troops in Poland,” he said.
“We believe it’s in the U.S. interest to have deployments in Europe,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said Friday, calling it “the cheapest way to keep the continent in peace.”