WASHINGTON, April 10. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has said that it is not ruled out that the number of US troops in Europe could be reduced.
When asked by reporters whether he has plans to reduce the number of US troops stationed in Europe, he said, "Well, good. I mean, it depends." "We pay for military over in Europe, you know. We don't get reimbursed by much South Korea too. So, it would be one of the things we discussed that's unrelated to trade, but I think we'll make it part of it (trade talks - TASS), because it makes sense. It’d be nice to wrap it all up in one package for each country," he said.
According to the US leader, US law firms will be engaged in talks on this matter. "These are great law firms that we signed with the best. And I think part of the way I'll spend some of the money that we're getting from the law firms, you know, in terms of their legal time, will be if we can do it. I think we can do it using these great law firms to represent us, with regard to the many, many countries that we'll be dealing with, good lawyers representing us," he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the United States has not yet worked out a decision on the levels of further US military presence in Europe, it will be taken following the results of talks with Moscow. He did not specify however whether he shared the opinion of US European Command (USEUCOM) head General Christopher Cavoli, who said on April 8 that the United States must maintain a reinforced contingent in Europe. Hegseth also did not clarify whether Washington was ready to hand over the post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) to the Europeans.
Earlier, NBC reported, citing US and European officials, that the Pentagon is considering withdrawing up to 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe. According to their information, this is about half of the 20,000-strong contingent sent by the previous US administration to the countries bordering Ukraine in 2022.