Republicans urge Trump to keep troops in Germany

Bloomberg

Six Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider his plan to cut the number of US troops in Germany, arguing that the move would harm national security and weaken the deterrent to Russia and China.
In a letter to the president, the lawmakers said Russian troops invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimean peninsula after President Barack Obama withdrew some US troops from Germany in 2012. They warned Trump against taking any action that would give Russia reason to question the US commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“The US forward presence in Germany serves as a cornerstone of NATO’s deterrent against Russian aggression,” said the lawmakers, led by Michael McCaul, the committee’s top Republican, and Representative Adam Kinzinger. “This is not the time to take any action that might cause the Putin regime to question the credibility of the NATO deterrent or might lead our NATO allies and partners to doubt the US commitment to our collective security.”
Trump announced the planned withdrawal earlier this month. He said at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that Germany doesn’t spend enough on defense and supports the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia.
“I said, let’s get it down from 50,000 to 25,000 because they’re delinquent,” Trump said. “They haven’t been paying what they’re supposed to be paying.” The GOP lawmakers wrote to Trump that the
US presence in Germany serves as a hub for operations in wider region and that an Army hospital there treats American troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.