US scraps deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has cancelled plans to temporarily deploy 4,000 US-based troops to Poland, two US officials said, in a surprise decision that renews questions about US President Donald Trump’s expected troop cuts in Europe.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment. A lawmaker said Congress had not yet been notified of the decision, and no formal announcement has been made.

The decision, first reported by the Army Times, came just two weeks after the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, in part because of a widening rift over the Iran war between Mr Trump and Europe.

One US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, suggested that the Poland decision was part of a near-term solution to ultimately allow the previously announced drawdown in Germany, which hosts 35,000 US forces. That would suggest the troops meant to temporarily deploy to Poland might come from elsewhere.

Still, the US has been reviewing its troop presence in Europe and has long been expected to scale it back, following Mr Trump’s demands that NATO take a larger role in the defence of Europe. The Pentagon has not yet detailed how it envisions future troop drawdowns across the continent.

Mr Trump has also been angered that European allies did not join the US war against Iran, and he has sparred with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who in April said Iranians were humiliating the US in negotiations.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters that the Poland decision appeared to be a surprise. “As far as I know, we weren’t notified about it.”

When the German withdrawal was announced, a senior US official said it would bring US troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a build-up by then President Joe Biden.

The latest decisions to withdraw troops also came amid increasing pressure from Washington on European countries to raise defence spending and accusations that reliance on US forces had allowed them to neglect their own militaries.

Reuters exclusively reported in April an internal Pentagon e-mail that outlined options to punish NATO allies that Washington believes failed to support US operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the US position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.

Alarmed by Mr Trump’s past criticism of NATO, lawmakers from both parties in 2025 backed a provision in the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) barring troop levels in Europe from falling below 76,000.

Mr Trump signed the measure into law in December 2025.

But the administration has some leeway. The NDAA provision allows the president to cut troop levels to below 76,000 if he certifies that he has consulted with NATO allies and provides independent assessments of how it would affect US security, the alliance and deterrence of Russian aggression.

In late 2025, there were about 85,000 US troops in Europe. REUTERS