(Bloomberg) — Vice President JD Vance said a decision to scrap the deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland was a standard delay that would encourage European nations to do more to provide for their own security.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Vance played down the impact of the decision, saying the US was “talking about shifting some resources around in a way that maximizes American security.” He said Poland is capable of defending itself with support from the US.
“I don’t think that’s bad for Europe,” Vance said. “That’s encouraging Europe to take more ownership.”
The US decision blindsided Poland — whose president is considered a close ally of Donald Trump — when it was disclosed last week. Warsaw has repeatedly won plaudits from Washington as one of NATO’s biggest defense spenders relative to the size of its economy.
Commanders in Europe were set to decide where exactly the troops would be stationed but many were bound for Poland, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Trump said earlier he would pull at least 5,000 troops from Germany and suggested a broader drawdown of the US’s 85,000 military personnel in Europe was in the works. That followed a war of words with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said last month that the US was being “humiliated” by Iranian negotiators.
Earlier: Top NATO Official Says 5,000 US Troops to Leave Europe
“Those troops could go elsewhere in Europe,” Vance said. “We could decide to send them elsewhere. We actually haven’t made the final determination about where those troops are ultimately going to go.”
–With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski.
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