Trump says he will ‘probably’ reassign troops
from Germany to Poland
The US president has admonished Germany for not
spending more on its own defense.
By CAITLIN
OPRYSKO AND ZOSIA WANAT 6/24/20, 11:51 PM CET Updated 6/25/20, 5:18 AM CET
U.S.
President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that he would send some of the
more than 9,000 troops he plans to withdraw from Germany over its eastern
border to Poland.
“They asked
us if we would send some additional troops,” Trump told reporters during a news
conference at the White House with the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, noting
that the shift would be “just to start” and that Poland had offered to pay for
it.
Trump
blindsided allies both at home and abroad with the announcement earlier this
month that he was looking to reduce the U.S. military presence in Germany, a
move seen as an affront to German leaders and beneficial to Russia. The
president has faced fierce opposition to the draw-down even among his own party
but has stood firm in his decision, implying the shift is linked to his
repeated complaints that Germany is not paying its fair share of costs for
NATO.
The
president’s assertion that he would “probably” move troops from Germany to
Poland comes days after his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, wrote in
an op-ed that the Pentagon “may” relocate the soldiers elsewhere in Europe but
could also redeploy them to the Indo-Pacific or send them back to the U.S.
“Poland is
one of the few countries that are fulfilling their obligations,” Trump said on
Wednesday, referring to a voluntary agreement that member states of the defense
pact spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense.
Critics of
the move have protested a decrease in the U.S. presence in Europe, in the face
of increased Russian aggression and Moscow’s complaints about the size of the
U.S. force there.
Trump
admonished Germany for its failure to reach that commitment, though the
agreement reached in 2014 set 2024 as the goal to meet that threshold.
Roughly
35,000 U.S. troops and their families are permanently stationed in Germany,
which is considered by some to be a critical staging base for operations in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Troop levels in Germany are authorized to
go as high as 52,000, a number that Trump mistakenly stated as the current
number of troops there. The president has said he wants that number to drop to
25,000.
Critics of
the move have protested a decrease in the U.S. presence in Europe, in the face
of increased Russian aggression and Moscow’s complaints about the size of the
U.S. force there.
Asked what
Duda thought of the impending withdrawal, the Polish president explained that
while he would not presume to tell Trump where to send U.S. troops, he would
not deny that he asked Trump not to withdraw American forces from Europe.
Great
expectations
Duda’s
visit to Washington, only four days before Poland’s presidential election on
Sunday, was meant to be an important finale of his campaign for another term.
Earlier on Wednesday, Duda released a video that showed him shaking hands and
debating with other world leaders, touting the successes and effectiveness of
his foreign policy.
But when
Duda returns home with very few concrete promises from the U.S. side, it’s
unclear how and if Wednesday's visit to Washington will affect the election
results.
According a
poll on Wednesday, Duda is still the front-runner in the vote, with about 40
percent support, while his closest rival, centrist Rafał Trzaskowski, would win
around 27 percent.
But at that
level of support, the election would have to go to a second round, set for July
12, and Duda's chances of winning then have been decreasing recently: The same
poll showed Trzaskowski leading in this instance.
Duda’s
political opponents have also criticized the Washington trip, stressing that a
presidential campaign is not the right time to discuss long-term, strategic
security agreements.
“It’s a
very important question: is the president going [to the U.S.] for the electoral
campaign, or is he going there to take very important and maybe … controversial
decisions,” Trzaskowski said before the visit.
Anna
Materska-Sosnowska, a political science professor at the University of Warsaw,
said Duda’s meeting with Trump might not work well in the ongoing campaign.
“We’re four
days ahead of the election and his main message is ‘the president of Polish
issues,’” she said. “He might be dealing with Polish issues there [in the U.S.]
but it’s not very well and enthusiastically perceived."
She added
that international and security deals shouldn’t be made “on the spot” and “for
the sake of campaign splendor.”
“It will be
criticized by the president's opponents,” she said.
Trump
himself stated Wednesday that the midst of his own presidential campaign is not
a good time for him visit other countries. Asked if he's planning to travel to
Poland anytime soon, Trump said he wanted to do so as soon as possible — after
this year's presidential vote.
“We’re
having an election in this country, as you probably heard, so I probably won’t
be able to do it until after the election,” he said.
This story
has been updated.
Trump praises Poland’s ‘vigilant efforts to
uphold the rule of law’
Polish president was first foreign leader to visit
White House since the global pandemic prompted lockdowns.
By ZOSIA
WANAT 6/25/20, 12:00 AM CET
Poland is
making “vigilant efforts to uphold the rule of law,” U.S. President Donald
Trump said during a press conference after meeting his Polish counterpart,
Andrzej Duda, at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump added
this was one of the reasons why Polish citizens were granted access to a visa
waiver program in 2019.
During the
White House visit — Trump's first from a foreign leader since global
coronavirus lockdowns began — the two also discussed a defense cooperation
agreement, increasing U.S. troops in Poland, and economic cooperation.
The
European Commission and Warsaw have continued to butt heads in recent years
over Brussels' view that the country is backsliding on its adherence to rule of
law commitments.
The
Commission has launched four legal procedures against Poland over rule of law
concerns, and triggered the so-called Article 7 disciplinary process over
charges that Warsaw is breaching the bloc's fundamental values, which, if
concluded, could strip the country of its EU voting rights.
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