President Donald Trump plans to pull about 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe, according to a leading Italian news agency.
A European diplomatic source told ANSA that Trump, who entered office on Monday for a second term, wants to reduce the American contingent in Europe by about 20 percent and plans to ask for a “financial contribution” for the maintenance of the remaining troops.
I hate to be the “ra ra america” guy here, but you know that any country we have a base in can throw us out, right? Our base leases can all be terminated by the host country pretty much whenever they want, and we’ll leave (with oh, just one or two historical exceptions, but what’s a little bribery of corrupt puppet regimes between allies?). This even happens sometimes, too - it’s partially why we withdrew from Afghanistan.