Biden Administration Reverses Another Trump Policy

The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it’s reversing former President Donald Trump’s troop withdrawal policies.

The Pentagon will add 500 U.S. troops to its presence in Germany, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Tuesday, reversing the Trump administration’s plan to slash the number stationed there by thousands.

“Today, I’m happy to announce that we will be increasing the U.S. force presence in Germany,” Austin said at a news conference in Berlin alongside his German counterpart.

“These forces will strengthen deterrence and defense in Europe, and they will augment our existing abilities to prevent conflict, and if necessary, to fight and win,” he added.

The troops will be stationed in the Wiesbaden area and arrive as soon as this fall, Austin said.

Last year, then-President Trump ordered a drawdown of nearly 12,000 of the 36,000 U.S. troops in Germany as retribution for what he described as Berlin’s “delinquency” on its defense spending.

He added that Germany failed to spend at least 2 percent of its GDP on defense, “so we’re reducing the force because they’re not paying their bills.”

In February, President Biden announced he was freezing Trump’s planned drawdown from Germany while the Pentagon conducts a global posture review.

At Tuesday’s news conference, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hailed Austin’s announcement of sending more troops to Germany as “great news.”

“This is a very strong signal of our partnership and friendship,” she said.

The Biden administration’s decision to not only reverse Trump’s drawdown but add forces to Germany comes as Russia is amassing forces on its border with Ukraine, alarming U.S. and European officials.

“Let me assure you it’s a message to NATO, and that message is that we support NATO to the fullest extent, and most importantly we value the relationship with our partner here in Germany,” he said.