Trump last week said he “might” move U.S. troops to Poland. “I have a great relationship with the president,” he said, “so that’s possible.”
However, Trump has also questioned the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 common defense pact and threatened to annex Greenland, a territory of alliance member Denmark.
Oana Lungescu, a former NATO spokesperson and senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said that while it’s still uncertain whether the Polish deployment decision is linked to the German troop pullout, what she called “haphazard and uncoordinated decisions by the Trump administration” risk alienating European allies and encouraging Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It makes no sense for the U.S. to punish Poland, which is a poster-child for defense investment and largely supportive of American policies,” she said.
Poland has about 500 U.S. troops stationed permanently in the country at the naval support facility in Redzikowo, which supports an American naval anti-ballistic missile system; at the headquarters of the 5th U.S. Army Corps in Poznań, which coordinates U.S. ground forces deployed around Europe; and at an armed forces garrison, which provides infrastructure support.
In addition, as many as 10,000 U.S. soldiers rotate regularly through the country.